


Bound To You

by Scaranpannoir



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bonding, Creature Inheritance, Dumbledore bashing-ish, Finally complete btw, From happy to sad to happy again lol, Ginny Weasley Bashing, M/M, Mates, Mind Control, Mpreg, Multiple Toms, Not dub-con apparently but non-con, Not underage...?, Prank Wars, Rape/Non-con Elements, So many talks dammit, Soulmates, Tags will be added up as I update ;D, Threesome - M/M/M, Underage is only one-sided so..., Who knows :D, beastiality, dub-con, i think, innocent!harry, smart!Basilisk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-08 23:04:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 55
Words: 119,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10398159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scaranpannoir/pseuds/Scaranpannoir
Summary: Voldemort's stray soul found its' way into Hogwarts grounds and possessed a magical snake, one strong enough to give him the sanity he needed to survive. While hunting, he caught on a unique smell and found Harry Potter, sprawled on the ground, with an unnaturally high body heat...XxJust a warning, this takes place in his second year, so... And there'll be lots of smut and possible plot, but idk~





	1. Drinking The Potion

**Author's Note:**

> Heya~ My first HP fanfic... to be published. This came as a plot bunny, actually :P But meh.

Harry didn't know what exactly happened.

It was a usual day at first, a day filled with classes and playing around with Ron and Hermione. They were looking forward to the weekend, although not looking forward to doing all the pent-up homeworks they got from the teachers. Both Ron and Hermione were talking, bantering, the usual, as they sat in the Great Hall for dinner. He'd noticed that Ginny had been acting somewhat strange and the looks she sent him had made a shiver run down his spine.

"You okay, mate?" Ron asked, noticing him shiver.

"Yeah, I'm alright... Just that your sister's been looking at me strange and it honestly makes me uncomfortable," he admitted, avoiding eye contact with both Weasleys.

"Relax, mate, she's probably in awe at you, like always," the redhead said, rolling his eyes before wolfing down the food he had on his plate, which significantly decreased the raven haired boy's appetite. But Hermione was watching him with narrowed eyes, and he had to take a few small bites of his dinner before he stood up.

"I'm gonna go get an early night," he said, fidgeting uncomfortably as he noticed that he was  _still_ being watched by Ron's little sister.

"At least drink something after you eat," the witch said, pointedly looking at his still-full goblet filled with pumpkin juice. Harry nodded before drinking a few sips, leaving his two friends in the Great Hall for some peace.

* * *

On the way to the Gryffindor common rooms, he felt a bit strange. A slight tingle was starting from his belly outwards, and he swore that after a few more steps, he could feel the tingle on his fingertips, getting stronger and stronger as he went. Oddly, the hallway he was walking in was also rising in temperature, and he had a longing feeling to just get out of the castle and walk around in the cool air. 

Unable to withstand the heat any longer, he indulged in his desire to walk outside, turning abruptly from where he was standing, and making his way to the entrance door. He didn't walk too far, only a few miles into the Forbidden Forest, before a blinding white heat surged through his whole body, making him abruptly take off his cloak and muggle shirt, along with his worn jeans. He was nearly naked, but it still wasn't enough. It was just too hot--far  _too_ hot for it to be natural, but his mind was quickly fogging up.

All he knew was how he felt so empty inside. 

A mix between a groan and a whimper escaped his lips as he kept on trying to find a cool temperature. He then began moving.

After a while of agonizing crawling, he fell into flowing water, a small stream which barely drenched him, but it helped cool him down immensely. He then leaned onto a tree with a damp ground, and panted. It was just so,  _so_ hot, he thought that his blood might as well be boiling.

Before he knew it, something solid, but noticeably cooler, coiled around him. Hugging him.

 _"Well, well, well, if it isn't the great Harry Potter,"_ he heard the snake hiss.  _"What brings you here into the Forbidden Forest, hm?"_

 _"V-Voldemort?"_ he hissed back, his mind far too gone to register the initial panic that came from hearing that voice, saying that name.

 _"The one and only,"_ he hissed back sarcastically. He then reared back in indignation when he felt a hand grip his long body quite harshly, but stopped an insult or two from being hissed when he heard the boy groan and whimper. His temperature was abnormally high too, and he noticed that the boy was quite naked. Tasting the air, he hissed an angry hiss.  _"Potter, what do you think you're doing, drinking incomplete potions?!"_

 _"What potions?"_ he asked rather weakly once the blinding white hotness passed.

_"Foolish boy, don't lie to me. I can taste the air, and I taste a bad potion in your system!"_

_"I don't know what you're talking about,"_ he shook his head, hissing back. Tasting nothing but the truth, Voldemort looked at him curiously.

 _"If you didn't consume the potion willingly, then why did you consume it at all?"_ he asked, watching the boy's reaction.

 _"I... I don't know...?"_ he hissed back, pulling away from the warming coils around his body.

Just by tasting the air and watching the raven haired boy's reactions had confirmed him that it was a binding potion, usually used for marriages and such, with the difference that it was usually keyed to another person. The fact that the boy had digested one not keyed to a specific person had him going into some sort of heat, and he didn't like it at all. It was also dangerous unless he bonds to someone--any kind of bond is alright.

Another whimper slipped through the boy's lips, and he, without thinking, hissed,  _"I can help you."_

 _"How...?"_ the boy eyes the snake skeptically.

 _"You'll need to bond with me, and then I'll be able to help you,"_ he explained.

_"But you're a snake...?"_

_"I'm a wraith, a stray soul, if you'd like, and the only bonding available for me is a soul-bond. All you need is to look into my eyes, and let my soul into your body."_

_"You mean you're going to possess me?!"_

_"It might be necessary to, if you're unwilling to cooperate. I'll help you relieve your pain, but in turn, you'll need to revive me to complete the bond."_

_"But... you're just gonna turn me into Professor Quirrell Number 2!"_

_"No, I will not. If you don't help me, and render me unable to soul-bond with you, then I'll gladly let you lose your sanity or die from exhaustion in more or less three months due to you consuming an incomplete potion,"_ he hissed sternly, and Harry thought it over before reluctantly nodding.

 _"Just help me, please,"_ he pleaded as another heat wave, this time bordering on painful, washed over him. If he were able to, he'd smirk at the boy's agreement. Looking each other in the eye, he used it to created a temporary bridge to enter the boy's mind, and sealing both of their consciousness within his mindscape as they waited for the bridge to crumble--and for the snake to die.

Voldemort took his time, looking around the small space of the boy's landscape, noticing the little boy huddled in the corner with his eyes trained onto the wizard, gaze filled with suspicion.

"Where are we...?" he asked, voice trembling a bit as he realized he was in his cupboard--again.

"Your mindscape," he answered bluntly. "I needed to enter your mind and close your consciousness so that we both could stay in the same body--at least for a while."

"How long do we have to wait?" Harry asked, feeling phantom pains of the binding potion's side-effect, even within his mind.

"Until I," Voldemort said, crouching right in front of Harry, revealing his handsome 30-ish face with gleaming red eyes and a charming smile that made Harry's heart skip a beat, "complete the soul-bond."

"How...?" Harry asked, genuinely curious.

"There are many ways, of course," Voldemort said. "One of the common steps to doing that is to get close, have some sort of... physical contact within you mindscape." He then extended his hand towards the boy, waiting until he tentatively touched his hand before pulling him into some sort of hug. Harry yelped in surprise, but was unable to fight the older man when he had his arms around his waist. "And the easiest one is to have sex within it."

He smirked when Harry's face flushed adorably. It was one of the cutest things he'd ever seen, and it envoked a feeling, deep inside him, that made him want to ravish him, have him, claim him. "A-are there... other ways...?" Harry gulped.

"Well, there are many other ways to do it," he informed, "but all of them requires a ritual or a spell, one that had to have help being cast by a third party. And we don't have that, now, do we?"

"But... but I'm..." Harry stuttered, unable to look away from the handsome smirk that made his lower belly feel all funny. "I'm a... I'm-I'm a..."

"A virgin?" Voldemort said with a raised eyebrow. Harry's deepening flush was all the confirmation he needed. "Don't worry, it's just mind sex, your physical body will have no change because of it. I'll even be able to make it as pleasurable as possible for you. Just trust me, even for a little bit?"

They  _were_ stuck in there until the deed was done, and he would more than possibly die if he didn't, so why not?

Harry nodded resignedly before pulling away from Voldemort's embrace to look at him properly. Voldemort also nodded back--in satisfaction--before he waved his hand and changed the whole mindscape, turning it into a more appropriate place to have things done. They both stood up and went for the dark green and silver bed, Harry visibly less confident than Voldemort.

"For starters, I need you to lay on the bed, and listen to everything I say. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," Harry said rigidly, clumsily making his way to the center of the bed to lie down. He didn't want to fall off the bed--mindscape or not. The older wizard smirked as he watched the small--far too small--teen crawling into the soft mattress. With a wave of his hand, their clothes vanished--not that the boy had much on him anyways.

"Now relax," Voldemort murmured as he gently kissed the younger male. His lips coaxed the other's lips to open up before he flicked his tongue inside, just a sample taste, relishing the surprised gasp he'd elicited from Harry. "Open your mouth. It'll help," he whispered before once again connecting their lips. The kiss was gentle, but passionate, as Voldemort's tongue mapped Harry's mouth, coaxing his tongue to join the kiss as his hands started to explore the smaller body beneath him.

His fingers traced his jaws, feeling the softness of his young face as it travelled down. His neck was soft, but firm, and he could feel his muscles move as he gulped a bit of his saliva when he stroked his finger onto his pulse on his neck. His touch made him shiver, the phantom pains becoming a distant ring, and forgotten completely when those deft fingers rubbed the nub of his nipples, pinching it and tugging at it--just playing at them. Voldemort just drank the younger boy's moans of pleasure before he pulled back, latching his lips onto the boy's sun-kissed neck.

His fingers traveled to his sides, feeling every bump and ridge of his ribs, making a mental note to make the boy eat more. Seriously, he could only feel skin and bones, and just a tidbit of muscle under his fingertips, and he didn't like it. They were supposed to be soul-bonding, something akin to turning themselves into soulmates for each other. And that means that he'd become his mate outside of the mindscape, and they'd have to get together sometime in the future, when Harry was more... legal.

For now, though, he was tasting the divine taste of one Harry Potter, and he'd savour it. Harry cried out when fingers found his erection, touching teasingly lightly at the length and his foreskin. No one had ever touched him there before--not even he himself. He had not yet had his first wet dream, and he wondered if his wet dreams would feel as good as the Dark Lord's touches?

He was brought back from his wonderings when he felt a warm, wet heat envelope his entire member, crying out as a tongue teased his foreskin back to lick up the head of his erection. The sensation suddenly disappeared, and it made him open his eyes he didn't realize had closed and look down--to find a smirking Dark Lord as his mouth slowly envelops his erection. The sight made his member twitch, and he couldn't help the groan that left his lips, but he never looked away from the sight until his orgasm tore him out oh-so suddenly, throwing his head back and making him arch as he emptied into the older wizard's mouth.

As Voldemort bit and sucked and kissed his legs, Harry stayed in cloud nine, the daze he was experiencing nothing like he'd ever known of before. When his mind cleared a bit, he felt a tongue on his arse, making him jump in surprise.

"Wh-what are you doing?!" he asked, alarmed. "D-don't lick there, it's dirty!"

"Is it?" the older man inquired before giving the tight, pink rim a broad lick, up to his perineum. "It tastes clean to me," he whispered against his hole, his tongue prodded the clenching and unclenching entrance until it unfurled enough for him to insert his tongue. Harry arched once more at the feeling of something entering his private, intimate place where things usually get out of.

Voldemort fingered him, one, then two fingers, along with the tongue. "You taste delicious," he commented when he deemed him stretched enough to be penetrated. He leaned forward until he was face-to-face with the panting wizard with glassy green eyes. "I will now enter you," he stated, a warning, as he aligned himself, pushing into the tight heat as gently as he could, eyes always scanning the younger wizard's face for any sign of discomfort and pain.

He stopped and let him adjust when he saw it before pushing on until he bottomed out, his ballsacs snug between the teen's cheeks.

"Alright?" he asked, his fingers rubbing at his lower abdomen to help with the adjusting. He was surprised and pleased to feel his member from where he rubbed him, and was worried because he was just  _so damn skinny!_ A nod from Harry had him pulling out slowly, patiently, until only the tip was inside him, before pushing back in. Harry was gritting his teeth at the strange feeling of something going in and out of his anus, until Voldemort's member brushed that place just right, that made him gasp and see stars. That made him start to writhe in confused pleasure.

Taking that as encouragement, Voldemort proceeded to pick up his pace, until he was technically abusing his prostate, with the speed he was going, until Harry climaxed, squeezing down just as the Dark Lord bottomed out and froze, feeling himself come inside the boy. It felt oh-so heavenly, and the look on Harry's face made him have a second bout of orgasm, before his come trickled out of his spent member inside the younger wizard.

Voldemort laid on one side without pulling out his oversensitized member, and pulled Harry closer. Being inside him was nice and warm, and it was such a pleasant feeling, that he could only mutter the word, "Sleep," before falling asleep himself.

* * *

When he woke up, Harry found himself alone, and shivering in the cool evening air, a dead snake carcass coiled around his naked body. The heat and pain he felt before wasn't there, and he was thankful for it. Quickly locating his clothes, he put them on before entering the castle. Everyone was already asleep by then--except for one person. That one person watched Harry like a hawk--bordering on stalking him until he made his way into the common room.

No one was awake, and the fire was warm, although unlit. He took a quick bath and did his evening routine before getting into his bed, quickly falling to back into sleep, and inconsequentially, back into Voldemort's arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk what I've just done, but I've sorta edited it..? 6/3/2017
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	2. Chicken Massacre

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My God, I'm so happy I'm crying ;_; Thank you for your comments and I'm sorry for the long wait... I've been feeling a bit depressed lately and now I'm in my exam time (more like, Friday calculus, next week Tuesday written business class... I'm in my second week of exams) and honestly, stuff's been happening and I've been hating everything... Oh, and I've been playing Twin Saga with my big sis, but that's not important.
> 
> Sorry for the long wait, and I'm sorry I haven't replied to all your comments (I'll get to doing that eventually), and I hope you enjoy this chapter~~

When Harry woke up, he felt slightly lightheaded. He wondered what exactly happened as he sat up and looked around. Everyone else was still sleeping, and the sun hasn't completely risen yet when he glanced outside.

But he was already awake, and he couldn't possibly get back to sleep--living with the Dursleys had that kind of effect on him. As he got ready for the day, in an extremely rare occurence, Ron woke up.

"Where have you been?" he asked, rubbing his eyes groggily as he stared sleepily at his best friend. "You weren't here when we got back, and we were so worried too..."

"Sorry, I went out... for a walk," Harry shrugged, picking up his toiletries and clothes before entering the bathroom. He wondered what had happened last night--his memories were foggy at best. He remembered the creepy stare of Ron's little sister and swore that she wasn't as creepy when they went to Diagon Alley together. It was quite disconcerting. His head throbbed a little bit, and something niggled at the back of his mind, but he just couldn't place it.

But he felt that it wasn't something to be concerned about, so he dried himself off and pulled on his clothes and steeled himself for the day.

* * *

Tom was amused.

He'd had experience on possessing a human being--namely Quirell--and he wasn't really someone he'd want to... bond with. Too cowardly, too weak. He was too easy to take over, but at that time he was also too weak to take full possession of him, not to mention the insanity side-effect that came from creating horcruxes was still gripping him tightly when he first possessed him.

When he'd possessed the snake, he knew that the snake was dying, but it was a formerly bonded snake and had magical residue within it, so he could retain some sort of sense until he found the boy wonder. He didn't know what compelled him to get close to him, but he was warm. Somewhere within the snake's mind, it wanted to feel warm in its' last moments, so its body went to coil around Harry and for some reason he couldn't control it anymore.

Talking with Harry and ending up in his mindscape wasn't his plan before, but after bonding with him, he felt himself gradually getting back his sanity and kept himself from the urge to take over the boy's body. Funny thing was, something he'd never knew before, was that when Harry was awake, the Harry within his own mindscape was asleep. Tom watched the form in his arms, sleeping peacefully as he listened to the boy's musings from within--which was quite loud and who knew that Harry thought about a lot of things?

He was currently listening to him thinking about Severus' dour personality, and wondered why he'd hate him because of his father. Tom shook his head as he kept on listening, not having anything to say about the boy's thoughts. He could hear the irritation when he heard about why he'd have to dice some dried roots for a phase while he'd have to put in the same dried roots, only chopped, after stirring the cauldron five times clockwise.

 _'Isn't this almost the same as cooking?'_ he thought, and he could feel that it was a question he'd been asking since first year.

"Potion brewing isn't the same as cooking, Harry," he whispered, and felt his thoughts jerk in surprise.

 _'Um... what...?'_ he thought, bewildered. But then he dismissed his voice as his inner thoughts and went back to chopping the dried roots. Tom shrugged and just chuckled to himself and held the body in his arms tighter towards him. He the tuned out the boy's thoughts and looked around the mindscape. He was fairly surprised that the first time he'd arrived, he'd come upon the small storage-like space and had seen the small boy huddled on top of some sort of rug on the floor, eyeing him with suspicion.

It indicated that something was wrong--seeing how young he is and how he seem to not even _know_ of Occlumency--his mindscape would've given him a visual of a place in which had the most impression to him. Did he have some sort of childhood trauma? Because the storage place had some mops and brooms, dusters and a rickety stool.

 _'She's looking at me weird again...'_ he heard Harry think. He tightened his arms around the sleeping body.

"Again?" he asked, managing to somehow sound calm and collected.

 _'Again, like last night,'_ he thought back, the memory of said night flashing right before his eyes. Analyzing the memory, Tom concluded that she might be the one whom had spiked Harry's dinner with the incomplete potion. But she was an eleven-year-old, and the potion he detected was definitely _not_ a first year material potion. But from the gleam in her eyes and the way she eyed his goblet... She might _just_ be the perpetrator.

Tom hummed under his breath and closed his eyes, checking how much energy he'd accumulated from the boy. It wasn't much, but it was enough to take control of the body for five hours. He could do some spying around for five hours to find out who spiked his dinner.

 _'Ugh, detention with Snape...'_ he heard him sigh in exasperation. Maybe he could use the potion's master to help him? It was too risky at the current stage, and seeing how little his energy was... No, he wasn't going to risk anyone finding out about his residence within Harry's mindscape...

* * *

 

"Mr. Potter," Snape said curtly, although the scowl he wore said that he hated saying that name. "You are dismissed," he said before going back to his essay grading. Harry nodded and prepared to get back to Gryffindor tower. Thoughts about the night before was forgotten as he travelled through the empty corridors, the pale moonlight shining through the windows.

Just as he arrived at the Fat Lady, he saw movement in the corner of his eye and caught something disappearing around the corner of the hallway. Curious, he decided to follow it. Straight through the hallways, down the stairwell, through a hidden passageway--and the entrance door was open. He wondered who'd be out so late at night, and slipped out through the door, shivering at the chilly air.

He vaguely remembered going out to the Forbidden Forest the night before and stripped--

He jerked to a stop.

_Stripped...?_

When did he strip?

He shook his head to clear his mind and focus on tailing whoever was outside at this time of night. The night was silent, and slightly eerie, but he didn't feel alone. Granted, it was probably the forest dwellers' presence that was soothing the feeling of being alone, but it was a welcome presence. He was startled when the night's relatively calm silence was disrupted when he heard chickens cuckooing in pain.

He threw all caution in the wind and came upon the chicken coop--who knew Hogwarts had a chicken coop? He opened the door to the coop and found himself ducking from a cutting spell. His glasses got caught, though, so it broke and fell from his face. His vision became blurrier than before and he looked up to see someone in white robes, reminiscent to a ritual robe, stained with blood as they waved their wand around, cutting chickens and putting them in despair before hiving them some reprieve.

The person was around Harry's height, and in the darkness and blood, they looked as if they had red hair. The formerly pure white ritual robes was starting to get drenched in blood. The person turned around and waved their wand towards him. He immediately cast a _protego_ , and watched as the stunner spell was deflected. The person muttered something--their voice distinctively feminine--and suddenly, fog descended upon the coop and was blocking his view.

 _'Get out--now!'_ something within him urged, and he obeyed, getting out just as the fog touched him. He hid behind a tree and watched as the whole coop went overflowing with the fog. As he watched, he was reminded of the events last year, when he and Malfoy watched Professor Quirell-Voldemort drink a unicorn's blood. He shivered at the memory--he'd never want to see that again... He felt sad for the unicorn, seeing as it was an innocent creature, and yet Voldemort had killed it for its' blood.

He shook his head. No, he wasn't going to dwell on something that had happened one year ago. After watching the fog disappear from the coop and not seeing anyone coming out of it, Harry decided to go inside and investigate who killed the chickens. He grabbed his broken glasses and put it into his pocket and his eyes swept through the destruction the mysterious person caused.

In the dim light, he could see that all the chickens were dead, and that blood was everywhere. His stomach rolled at the sight, and he gulped before turning around and getting back to the castle. Maybe Professor Dumbledore knew what he should do--what should be done?

He hoped so.

By the time he'd told the Headmaster, it was nearing 3 AM, and he was dead tired, but he couldn't sleep. As he laid in his bed, cleaned up from his nightly activities, the image of the chicken massacre kept on replaying within his mind, and also the unicorn from last year, getting drained of blood... he didn't want to think about it, but he couldn't do that.

As he closed his eyes, he felt warmth surround him, and a hand playing his hair. But it must be a trick of his mind, he reasoned, because he knew for a fact that he was alone in his bed. But the warmth and the feeling of his hair being petted was comforting--something he'd never felt before. He sighed as he finally slipped into a deep sleep, not even waking up in his subconscious mind to find a smiling Tom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Umm... It's actually more plot than anything... I think? Oh well, you al know who's been killing the chickens. It's humans! We keep eating chickens, their eggs and meat and even bones! Which reminds me that I didn't have lunch and I slept through dinnertime, and now it's 2 AM and I'm hungry... But I'm too lazy to get out and buy food... Ugh. And to be honest, I also don't know what exactly I'm writing, so I'm sorry if you have questions on what exactly is the point of writing this.
> 
> As usual, it's not beta'd so all mistakes are mine--correct me if something is wrong and is bothering you... See ya all next chapter~
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	3. Hello, Harry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another update~ Yay! I love it when people enjoys my writings... Your kudos and comments are always, always appreciated (and it delights me a hell, hell lot too XD) And no, I do not own Harry Potter... or not I'll make Harry command the Basilisk to kill Voldie... not that I want him to die either... Ooh, the dilemma....
> 
> Anyways, enjoy~

Things got boring for Voldemort, despite the many thoughts running through young Harry's head--although he'd admit that the Heir of Slytherin proclamation more than a little bit... unsettling. When he'd finally gotten enough strength to get out of the mind-scape bed, he did, laying the 'inner-Harry', as he'd dubbed it, on the bed. He liked the weight of the boy in his arms, too bad he was bored.

He looked around the room, impressed that despite the fact that it was him whom had 'created' it, Harry had subconsciously added some more things into it--a few broken toy soldiers, an oddly rickety stool, a muggle stove and fridge, and the most intriguing, a burnt teddy bear. Why he'd place broken toys inside the room, he'd never guess. But then again, it could be just Harry's mind adapting from the small, cramped storage cupboard to the new and improved lavish bedroom with luxuries he might not have even thought about in his whole life.

Oh, the possibilities...

But there was a door, which he knew wasn't there before. Frowning, he tried to open it, only to find it to be locked. Interesting... Perhaps a simple Legilimens could forcefully open the door? But that might damage his mind, what with mind magicks dealing with the nervous systems and fragile, sensitive cells from the brain. Shaking his head, he walked around the 'room' again to inspect the muggle appliances and broken toys. Maybe he could, after all, figure out why they're there in the first place?

* * *

After witnessing the coop massacre--in which he blamed himself for not being able to stop it from happening, now that Ron's complaining about the lack of chicken meat and eggs in quantity--Harry had started to guess who was behind all the chicken murders and blood writing, and petrifying students. There were several candidates, the most prominent one was Draco Malfoy. But he remembered a muggle film, Sherlock, he thought, saying that the most obvious answers may not be the correct one.

So while Hermione, Ron, and he were brewing the Polyjuice Potion, he started observing others. He might not know other people's behavior by heart, but sometimes he'd notice some others acting strangely--a fifth year Hufflepuff fidgeting as he looked around in a suspicious manner, a Slytherin, whom despite having their masks erected, looked terrified, a few fourth to sixth year Gryffindors talking about putting brooms in cauldrons, and many Ravenclaws not having a dozen books in hand having blank looks on their faces, mumbling about something or other, or maybe that's what they do when they don't have books to read, homework to be done?

Maybe that was something normal for Ravenclaws.

The most peculiar in his opinion was actually Ginny and Luna--Malfoy was being the same pompous git he was and had always been.

Ginny, when he was in the room, would immediately turn all of her attention towards him, like she was doing at the moment as he walked to his next class. Sometimes he'd see a flash of red within her blue eyes, and she always had a black book in hand, always writing into it when she thought no one else was looking. Judging by the way she reacted when Ron tried to read it over her shoulder, he concluded that it must be her diary or journal, or something similar to it.

But still, her stares were creepy, to say the least.

Luna on the other hand... was in a world far, far different than the one in which he knew of. They knew of. She was very keen on daydreaming, walking around barefoot--though he found out later that the other Ravens were hiding her shoes almost all the time--and coming up to him and saying something about the "Nargles are being very good with you, Harry. I wonder why?"

She was odd, but nice. As if she could be a big sister to him, despite her being younger, if she wanted to. Or if he'd ask her.

"Of course I can, Harry, I'd be happy to!" he was startled out of his thoughts when Luna said that. How did she even get there without him noticing? "You're thinking too much," she giggled. "You should try meditating. Little Krimmies don't like meditation. They like to lock things up too much." And with that, she skipped away, humming a tune as she went.

"Whoa, mate, you're friends with Loony Lovegood?" Ron blurted out after a few minutes of silence.

"Yes, I'm friends with her, and her name's Luna," he snapped at the redhead. Honestly, if he could just hold back on saying some things, and be straight-forward on others that mattered the most, he might be more likeable. For now, though, he was Harry's best friend, and that's all that matters.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, earning a grin from the raven.

"Come on, we need to get these to Hermione tonight!"

And then they were off.

* * *

It wasn't as disappointing as he thought it should be, when they found out that Malfoy didn't know whom the Heir of Slytherin was. Well, there's to hoping. But they got some pretty good information on who could possibly be said Heir. They should be handsome--because, of course, Salazar Slytherin just _had_ to be one of the most wanted men in his time, and the vain Malfoy actually admitted that he might be even more handsome than the blonde! Something about magical creature inheritance or something.

They also had to have an intelligent familiar or two, because according to Hogwarts: A History, Salazar had a basilisk, the ancestor of dragons, whom were also intelligent, possibly far more so than humans.

And, the most important thing was the fact that the Heir had to be able to speak Parseltongue.

And of course the only Parselmouth known to the world were Voldemort...

And Harry Potter.

And he could _not_ be the Heir because apparently, no Slytherin Heirs should be sorted into Gryffindor.

Oh, how funny it would be if they just knew that Harry was supposed to be in Slytherin.

Well, it should be funny, but the implications behind it horrified him, really.

When they left the Slytherin common rooms, he swore that he saw the Giant Squid peeking into the room with a giant, luminous yellow-orange eye.

Creepy.

But now they were back to square one, and it was honestly just so... frustrating. Lockheart's greed for fame was making it worse, especially when he nearly released a captured banshee into a classroom filled with second year students. After hearing Hermione explain what Banshees were, his doubt on the DADA professor's intelligence grew immensely--not that it wasn't a big before, just that... he was probably the only professor in this whole world who knew even less and was even more brash than a five-year-old throwing a tantrum on not getting their sweets because their parents don't want them contracting any illnesses.

And even that seemed like an understatement.

"Mr. Potter," a voice drawled, pulling him back from his musings. "You do realize that we're _brewing,_ not _cooking._ You need to chop those leaves more precisely. Ten points from Gryffindor, now get back to work."

The Slytherins sneered at him, snickered at him, while he just scowled at the professor's back. What did he do wrong this time? And that's when his gaze fell to the leaves on the desk, right beside the knife he was using to prepare the ingredients and his eyes widened before a blush painted his whole face red. He was preparing the leaves like how he'd prepare vegetables when his Aunt wanted some simple, yet fancy dish!

But at least they were still usable. It might just be passable, but then again, getting good grades never did any good to him before. Sighing, he dropped the leaves into his cauldron, stirring it in a zig-zag pattern before letting it simmer for a few minutes as he ground some jumping beans. When classes was over--thankfully potions was the last lesson for the day--Snape told him to stay behind.

"You wanted to talk to me, Sir?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Mr. Potter. I have a bit of trouble right now, because I've noticed some of my potions ingredients supplies are missing," he said, linking both his fingers by intertwining them and sat up straighter. "I was wonder if you might know what happened to them...?" he said, raising an eyebrow. He looked as if he already knew the answer, but wanted him to admit it. But admitting it meant that his friends would also get in trouble, and he didn't want to trouble anyone.

"N-no, Sir, I don't know," he stammered, finding that his worn out sneakers interesting. Then there was silence, one which consisted of Harry fidgeting and Snape staring. He was getting more and more nervous under the potions master's scrutiny, his gaze felt heavy, made him feel heavy, but he would not, _could not,_ betray his friends like this.

"Detention Potter, for not brewing something decent. I expect to see you Monday at eight," the man finally said after enjoying the boy's obvious discomfort under his stare. Yes, he loved making his students uncomfortable. It was--enjoyable, to say the least. At least in that aspect, he understood the Dark Lord. Scaring others was thrilling.

Harry hastily left the potions class room, finding that he needed to go to the toilet, and that he wanted--needed to be as far away as possible from the dungeons. Both Hermione and Ron had left earlier to the Great Hall, probably thinking that Snape might be holding him up too long. Maybe he did, for them.

In the end, he couldn't hold his bladder anymore when he reached the second floor and had to go to the bathroom near Moaning Myrtle's. Finishing his business, he washed his hands and opened the bathroom door, only to stop when he heard running footsteps on water. Puzzled, he went out and looked around. Seeing no one, he shrugged before stepping out.

When his sneakers landed on water and started to get soaked, he raised his eyebrows. Why was there water on the floor? The only water source he knew was near him was the Moaning Myrtle's bathroom... But it's a girl's bathroom, and he's a boy! But since no one uses it... it should be alright, as long as no one sees him... right?

Gathering his courage, Harry quickly stepped into the bathroom, relaxing slightly when he saw it to be empty. There was a gurgling sound within one of the stalls, and he followed it. A book was being flushed into the toilet, although the result was... less than successful. Upon closer inspection, he realized that it was the book that Ginny had been writing into this whole year.

Without a thought, he pulled the book out of the toilet, letting it flush easily now that nothing was clogging it up anymore, and was surprised by the fact that the book was dry. Intrigued, he opened the book, only to find it empty besides the writing TMR. Maybe this wasn't Ginny's diary, after all, but someone else's? But she was writing in it this whole year, so there should be more writing than a simple TMR, surely? Or maybe it was a magic book, that--

The sound of footsteps outside made him remember where he was, and he froze in panic.

"Moaning Myrtle's bathroom is flooded?"

Oh no, he knew that voice!

"It can't be, there should be--"

Harry slipped the book into a hidden pocket of his robe just as Snape slammed the bathroom door open. Emerald and onyx met and surprise was clear in their eyes before a plethora of emotions quickly flooding through them, washing them away.

"Mr. Potter, why are you in a girl's bathroom?" he asked in a dangerous tone.

"I... I... um," he fumbled for an excuse, but could not find anything.

Snape sighed. "Detention, Potter. I am assuming that you created this mess," he gestured towards the whole floor, flooded with water, "and for not being in the Great Hall for Dinner."

"But Sir, I--"

"No buts," he said sternly, coldly. His gaze was hard and cold, and Harry found that he didn't like it. At least the disgust within Petunia's and Vernon's eyes weren't there, or he might've thought that maybe Snape was somehow related to them. Sighing, Harry mumbled a 'Yes, Sir', drooping his head as he walked past the dour man. He knew that even if it wasn't Snape, but another professor, they would also come to the same conclusion.

He already had detention with him on Monday, so what's another detention on, possibly, Tuesday?

* * *

When he'd got onto his bed that night, he stared at the black book in his hand. He was feeling oddly elated, and he quickly grabbed a quill and started writing, _Dear Diary._ He then didn't know what else to write. Before he could contemplate on what else to write, the writing disappeared, and an elegant handwriting appeared, _Well, hello there._

With wide eyes, Harry wrote the only thing he thought of writing at that moment;

_You can talk?_

_No, I can't talk._ Was the reply after his handwriting disappeared. Harry frowned, biting the tip of his tongue out of habit before writing;

_But you're responding to me._

_Yes, I am._

Thinking for a moment, he wrote;

_Who are you?_

_My name is Tom._

_Are you TMR?_

_Those are my name's initials, yes._

Initials?  He didn't know of anyone with those initials, but then again, the book must be a magical artifact. Proof was that it could reply to his writings.

_Why were you in Ginny's hands this whole year?_

_We've only talked for five seconds, shouldn't you introduce yourself first before asking such an... intimate question?_

Harry frowned at it.

_My name's Harry Potter, and I don't think that the question was intimate at all._

_Maybe for you it's not. For others... I can't say._

Then Harry pouted, not that he noticed, of course.

_Tell me, Harry, in what grade are you? I assumed you're in Hogwarts, am I right?_

_I'm in my second year,_ was what he replied.

_Ah, I see, older than Ginerva. You're the one she writes about the most, you know? Seems to have a very, very big crush on you._

He didn't know how to respond to that.

_You intrigue me,_ from Tom, after a while of silence. _I hope we could write to each other more often from now on._

Harry's eyes widened at that. Sure, last summer was lonely, but that was only because the only ones writing to him were Ron and Hermione. To add Tom as his pen pal... that didn't sound lonely at all! With a huge and hopeful smile, Harry replied, _Sure! I'd love that very much!_

_Now I believe it's bed time for you. Sleep well._

_You too._ Was written before he realized that magical books might not need to sleep. But he'd made a new friend, in a book! The thought made his smile bigger, and he hugged the book to his chest as he drifted off to sleep. It was probably one of his best sleep since forever.

* * *

A 16-year-old Tom Riddle landed into a luxurious bedroom with a sleeping Harry in the middle of a huge bed. So innocent, so vulnerable... But the sight of an older version of him startled him. "What are _you_ doing here?!" he asked in surprise.

"Hello, younger me," Voldemort said as he closed the book he was reading.

"You're... You're the main soul piece?"

"That I am."

"What're you doing inside Harry's head?" Tom said suspiciously.

"Found him to be the perfect vessel for me to resurrect... that is if you don't have any other suggestions?"

"No, I mean, how did you get here?"

"Ah, funny story actually, Harry here was under the influence of an incomplete bonding potion, making him open to bond with anyone, and making him feel the urge to bond. And the urge was too strong for him that he, apparently, had to go cool off inside the Forbidden Forest. He didn't know about the potion, of course, probably just feeling a bit hot," Voldemort chuckled. "And then he found me--or I found him, depending on how you see it--and to save him from dying of over-heating, I decided to make a soul bond with him. Make sense?"

Tom gaped at his older self in an uncharacteristic gesture of surprise.

"But... you're a soul piece within Harry's head... Shouldn't you be in your real body when you initiated it?"

"I was possessing a snake when we met," he said flatly.

"So you... did _that_ in snake form?!" Tom was both feeling faint and horrified and embarrassed and aroused, all at the same time when he imagined on how a snake could... bond with the small, admittedly delectable boy sleeping on the bed.

"As intriguing and arousing that sounds, no I didn't," Voldemort said, putting an end to the unusual thoughts of his younger self. "I transferred myself into Harry before we bonded in his head, soul-to-soul."

Tom exhaled in relief.

"So? What are you doing here?" the elder man asked.

"I'm trying to do a resurrection ritual, one in which need a sacrifice--a soul."

"Ah, that might not be entirely necessary. After graduating Hogwarts, I travelled the world to gain more knowledge and found that a soul bond could revive lost ones--in exchange of us having to absorb the other horcruxes."

"Horcruxes? Are you mad?! How many did you make? Our goals wouldn't be reached if we're not sane enough to do it!" Tom groaned, earning a scowl from Voldemort.

"I got addicted on staying alive that I didn't really care even if I lost my sanity after the third horcrux," he shrugged. "Lesson learned, I guess," he said with a grin.

"You're impossible..." Tom said as he shook his head, an amused smile gracing his lips. "So how're you sane right now?"

He contemplated the question for a moment.

"I'm not sure, but I think it's got something to do with Harry's touch last year when I tried to kill him."

Tom choked on that. "You tried to kill a child?!"

"I wasn't exactly sane, you know," Voldemort growled. "I'm hoping that absorbing the horcruxes might cure me of my insanity."

"Fine," Tom sighed, not believing what his older self had done. He'd never condone murdering a child, or hurting them for that matter. Not after the childhood he's had before. "Tell me the resurrection ritual."

"Tell me who dosed Harry with an incomplete potion that could possibly be fatal to him had he not met me in the Forbidden Forest."

"It was--Ginerva Weasley... and Romilda Vane," Tom conceded. Might as well be honest, so that they could protect Harry from those two incredibly obsessed girls. Two incredibly dangerous girls when introduced to obsession.

"I... see," his older self said, more to himself than to others.

"So? Tell me the plan," Tom demanded.

"Impatient as always," Voldemort smirked, his eyes flashing with mirth. "First things first, then, we'll need..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hueheuheuheheuheuheuheuheuhehehehhehehehehhehehhehehhhehehh I like little Harry to be more... naïve and cute and a bit of childish despite of his maturity... I just want him to act like the age he's supposed to act as. :( Ehm, so Sevvie... I wonder what I should do with him...?
> 
> So did you like it? Did you enjoy it? I sure didn't, what with my fingers aching from an intense battle... I've been playing too much, honestly. ;D
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	4. Surprise!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I've been... busy. I was totally NOT depressed and all that stuff that you might think, just a few Uni work that just made me go down the gutters (and the fact that my parents found out that I have no interest in Uni whatsoever and are, for some reason, disappointed in me... I mean, hey, Game Apps major is the closest to my passion as it could be! :T) I haven't been doing much either though, a few storyboarding here and there, drawing some really bad drawings and generally just trying to cope with boredom (I won't say it again, mom, I said I did have an interest in cardiology and archeology, and space stuff (was it astrology or astronomy?), and cooking and becoming a patisserie (patissiere?), and the thingy about massages and needles thingy (forgot the name), and many, many more. You can't fault me for choosing the major that corresponds with the psychotest (psychology test) at my last semester. :( )
> 
> Yes I was ranting, I'm sorry. But I'm still surprised many found this interesting... While I do find it fun and interesting to write this, but I'm still used to the way people don't think like me and finding people disliking my views that you guys surprise me... Thank you for your support, everyone! And enjoy~~ (^o^)

Severus was a very observant man, to say the least. His eyes would scan the Great Hall at meal times, noting everything that seemed amiss. That morning seemed like another day, the Gryffindors were as rowdy as always, the Hufflepuffs were doing quiet chatter, the Ravenclaws eating quickly before grabbing their books to read, and the Slytherins... Well, since the whole 'Heir of Slytherin' thing, they seemed to be looking smug and yet curious, their eyes searching for who the Heir truly was.

He internally snorted. Of course, the Heir should be the one who's able to speak to snakes, which was the Dark Lord.

... Or Harry Potter.

His eyes zeroed in on said boy. The defeater of the Dark Lord, and the one he'd vowed to protect to honor Lily's death. And coincidentally the most insufferable brat he'd ever encountered in his whole life. He'd teach him a lesson or two in his upcoming detention, of course... He'd never forget the first duelling lesson with Lockheart, where it was Draco against Potter, where he'd commanded the snake Draco had conjured...

He could very well be the next Slytherin Heir, as far as he'd known, and the rest of the school seemed to be of the same mind. Standing up, Severus immediately headed for the Potion's classroom. It was another day of torture, or so it felt like it since the dunderheads he would be teaching that morning were first years Gryffindor and Slytherin...

Torture indeed.

* * *

For the past week, Harry had spent most of his nights writing in the diary, interrogating Tom as thoroughly as he could. The more he wrote, though, the more he became interested in this Tom-being. Whom would he be if were a real person? He'd be a great guy, he was sure, but right now he needed to know why he was in Ginny's hands.

_"You want to know why I was with her?"_

The elegant writing was something one would be envious of, but Harry didn't really care about that. He liked his messy handwriting no matter what, thank you very much. Growing up, he didn't have much chance to practice writing, so just being able to write eligibly was an achievement in his mind.

 _"Yes,"_ he scrawled. _"A charmed diary like you would be pretty high in demand, and I was wondering how you'd come into her hands as I've never heard of your kind before."_

_"Would you truly want to know?"_

Harry pondered the question for a while. Did he really want to know?

 _"Yes._ _"_

He'd decided to find out what was wrong with Ginny, as he'd never seen her without this book last year when he'd visited the Weasleys. Then again, if he'd remembered correctly, it was Malfoy's dad who put in the book in her cauldron. Wouldn't something like this become a very valuable and expensive thing, if it were to be publicized? Why did someone like Malfoy's father put something this precious into another's cauldron? Was it cursed or something?

Shaking his head, he focused back onto the page he was on, noticing Tom's reply to his previous writing.

_"Very well, if you're that curious then I'll let you in here."_

_"Let me in there?"_ Harry's eyebrows climbed up into his hairline as he read that before they knitted together into a frown. _"What do you mean by letting me in there?"_

_"Enter the book, silly."_

Harry flushed, imagining the diary, personified, laughing at his question.

_"How?"_

_"Close your eyes and focus your magic onto the book."_

Harry looked at it doubtfully. Could he, really? How does one focus their magic onto an object anyway? Maybe it would be like _Wingardium Leviosa,_ where one levitates an object. That's something like focusing one's magic onto an object... right?

Inside his head, Voldemort smiled in approval and amusement at Harry's thoughts. So naïve and yet logical... for a child, that is.

Harry closed his eyes and concentrated on the book, just like it asked, and found himself falling to the ground, face-first. But the pain never hit him, like he'd expected. Instead, a pair of arms caught onto him and he was now being lifted like a baby. Or a toddler.

"Whoa, there," a rich deep voice said, sending shivers down his spine. "You almost experienced a very painful landing there, buddy."

Harry flushed at his words. "S-sorry," he mumbled shyly. Tom looked at him in amusement before setting him on his feet. The boy before him was small, smaller than he'd thought the savior of the Light should be, and yet endearingly cute. His messy black hair looked soft enough, and he was looking at him with startlingly _Avada_ green eyes from his lashes. His cheeks were reddening at the stare he was subjected to, but he seemed to be unable to look away either.

Harry's eyes were drawn to the dark red irises that seemed to be piercing his very soul, set on a very handsome, aristocratic face and neat black hair. The person before him towered over him like anyone would, seeing that he was as small as the smallest first year that year, despite being in his second year. Now he knew why Malfoy's father wouldn't want a book like him, he was too handsome that he would actually rival the blonde's beauty! Well, at least now he knew what the book would look like, personified.

"Hello, Harry," Tom smiled, making his stomach feel weird.

"H-hello... Umm, Tom...?" Harry said uncertainly, fidgeting at the weird feeling saying his name made him feel. Tom chuckled.

"No need to be so nervous, Harry," he smiled, his fingers threading through his messy hair and clearing it of the tangles it had. Harry decided that it felt nice to have someone other than him thread their fingers through his hair. "Welcome to Tom Marvolo Riddle's diary!"

Harry opened his eyes, not knowing when he'd closed them, and looked around. The walls and floor was made from stone, and along the wall were torches, or something similar to it, giving the place a golden glow for lighting. The ceiling was far above, and it was so dark up there he couldn't see it. The place they were in was a circular place, wide enough for Harry to estimate that it was bigger than the Quidditch pitch, size-wise. "We're not in Hogwarts anymore, are we?" he asked, his eyes still looking around in awe.

"Technically, we still are," Tom shrugged, pulling his hand back as he did so. Harry found himself missing his touch almost immediately. "We're in the diary in spirit, but not in body. Your body should be outside, asleep on wherever you were before you entered this place," he explained.

"That's so cool... But I have to go soon, class starts in half an hour..." When Harry glanced up at him, he felt guilty at the sad look Tom had on his face.

"Please stay," Tom said quietly, kneeling so that he was level with Harry's chest, looking up into his guilty face. "I've been here, all alone for so, so long that... That any company would be appreciated."

"I-I could stay, but... But class is..."

"Please? I don't know how you being here affects the time that keeps on going outside, but..." Tom lowered his gaze and looked away. "But if you'd want to go to class, then you should, huh..."

"No! I mean, I could go to class, but I also-I also want to talk to you some more, and-and I also have some questions and--"

"It's alright, Harry... I'll... I'll be waiting here, if you'll come back later..."

Harry hated to see the sad, lonely look Tom was sporting. He wished that he could wipe it away and turn it back into the smile he had when he'd first arrived...

"I-I'll stay," he said determinedly.

"But... your classes..."

"'Mione or Ron would help me take a sick leave, so... I'll stay with you, just for the day?" he tilted his head slightly in an inquiring manner, his eyes pleading to him as if asking for permission. Tom smiled brightly, making his heart beat faster when it seemed as though the whole place had just brightened up. Maybe it did? Who knows...

"Thank you, Harry," he said, hugging him to hide a smirk. Part one of the mission was complete. Now, it was Voldemort's turn.

* * *

When Harry'd disappeared from the mindscape's bed, the first thing he wanted to do was panic, search for him, even though he knew that it would be futile to do so. Then, he remembered the plan and smiled. He didn't think that persuading Harry to enter the diary would be so easy... Now to take over his consciousness.

He gasped as he opened his eyes, seeing through Harry's eyes and seeing blurry reds and golds. _'Ugh, Gryffindors...'_ Honestly, he'd prefer if Harry were to be in Slytherin, if only to spare him the hideousness of red and gold so bright, he wondered how the other Gryffindors didn't have eyesight as bad as Harry's. Feeling something on his nose, he took it off and saw, even from a short distance, that the glasses were a blur. How bad was his eyesight anyways?

The glasses were in the wrong prescription, and he should've been able to take a vision correction potion if only he'd ask Severus... Well, he _did_ say that the resident Potions Master hated him, a lot, it seemed. Well that was to be expected, seeing the history between the previous Potter with him. But Severus was not usually one to hate without reason, there must be some other reason, surely?

"Harry!"

"Mate!"

At the loud sounds, he started in surprise. In the doorway were a red-headed boy and a bushy-haired girl. Ronald and Hermione.

"Hey, Ron, 'Mione," he said as Harry-ly as possible.

"Mate, we gotta go, or else we'll be late for Transfigurations!" Ron said. Hermione looked at him in pride, probably due to the fact that he was worried that he'd be late for a class, for once.

"It's that late already?" he feigned surprise.

"Yeah, Harry, what have you been doing? Sleeping?"

He made a convincingly guilty face, and Hermione rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Come on, let's go!"

* * *

"So, how did you end up stuck in here?" Harry asked when they entered a personal chamber of sorts. He didn't notice that the walls were lined with camouflaged doors, and the surprise and following wonder on his face made Tom wish to be with him for a long, long time. Hopefully, the soul bonding his older self had done would ensure that indefinitely.

"Well," Tom started, sitting on a very soft bed and gesturing Harry to do the same next to him. When the boy's eyes widened in awe as he felt how soft it was, he'd wanted to... well, he'd wanted to cuddle with him, but Dark Lords don't cuddle. It's a universal knowledge. He cleared his throat to get his attention. "Well, when I was a student... which I technically still am for the last decade or so, I was... ambitious, driven. I'd wanted to know everything about the magical world, the etiquettes, the political issues, the history... everything."

"You sound like Hermione," Harry mumbled with a fond smile. Whoever this 'Hermione' was, he decided that he didn't like her, if for he knew Harry would never smile like that while thinking of him... Ignoring the mumbled comment, he continued.

"I was a Hogwarts student, and I'd excelled in every possible subject taught there; Arithmancy, Transfiguration, Charms--everything. Then it came to the time that I'd learned everything in the school, but I wanted to know more. Surely the world doesn't only consist of such things? Then I'd learned about Dark and Light magic, or at least the Ministry's version of it. I didn't care whether it was Dark or Light, all I knew was magic, and how to use it in different ways. Then I found a ritual, one that could be considered... dangerous, and required a living sacrifice."

Harry gasped. "You mean you killed someone?"

"They didn't deserve to live, after what they've done..." a frown marred his handsome face, matching Harry's concerned one.

"What did they do?" he asked softly. Tom looked at him, contemplating on whether or not to tell him. "If-if you don't want to talk about it, then..."

"Well, they have a connection on why I lived in an orphanage."

In his mind, Harry had concluded that they might've been murderers whom had killed his parents or something. He could relate to that--not having parents, and being an orphan. "I'm sorry," Harry said sincerely, taking away Tom's breath at his honesty.

"It-it was a long time ago," he stuttered. How could a second year student make him lose his composure when even Abraxas Malfoy never did? "Moving on," he decided to ponder the question at a later date, "I proceeded with the ritual and succeeded, and now here I am."

"So you're basically a person held captive by a book?" Harry said, the simplicity of how he'd described his situation making him laugh.

"Basically, that's true," he said between chuckles, cupping one side of Harry's face and rubbing his cheekbone with a thumb. His palm felt warm on Harry's face, and he subconsciously leaned into the tender touch, being deprived of it his first few years. It felt comforting.

Tom's heart soared when Harry leaned into his touch, and he leaned in, touching his forehead onto the younger one's forehead, noticing the lighting bolt-shaped scar on his head. Green eyes widened at the sudden closeness of his face, and he was frozen in place. "Any more questions?" Tom asked in a deep voice. Harry blushed with an intensity that he worried might not be good for him. The hand cupping his cheek could feel his face heating, and his free hand moved to reach one of his hands.

Unable to speak, Harry shook his head minutely, captivated by the red, red eyes that just seemed... magical.

Tom chuckled as he pulled away, only leaving his hand on Harry's hand stay in contact. "So, Harry, what about you?" he asked after a while of grinning at his red face, trying to get it hidden with his hair to no avail.

"What about me?" he asked back.

"Where are you from? What House are you in? Judging by your uniform, you're undoubtedly a Gryffindor," he smiled. "Tell me about yourself."

Harry fidgeted, feeling self-conscious. He knew that he would have to censor some stuff, but other than that... "Alright, then..."

* * *

_Knock knock._

"Enter."

Of course, Severus' voice had to be cold, especially to his boy. Voldemort rolled his eyes. "You should say _'who's there?'_ , Professor," he said stepping into the potions classroom. Severus just glared at him, and he returned the glared with an amused smile.

"Prepare those ingredients, Potter," he snarled, returning to his grading after that. Voldemort decided he'd humor him for a while and walked up to the work desk to start preparing whatever Severus had prepared. Of course he'd give him something difficult and annoying to prepare, yet not dangerous. With a smile, he finished preparing the ingredients swiftly and efficiently.

Severus narrowed his eyes when he saw how Potter prepared the ingredients. It was too quick, too efficient. Was this someone Polyjuiced as him? Was this even Potter?

Voldemort just smirked at the suspicious look the Potions Master gave him when he realized something was off. "Something wrong, Professor?" he purred with a lecherous smile that didn't fit Harry's innocent face. It looked disturbing, Severus decided. He kept quiet, his hand discreetly poised to reach for his wand at a moment's notice.

"Who are you," he said coldly.

"You don't remember me?" he answered with the same smile, though his eyes were cold. Voldemort walked up to Severus' desk and put both hands on the desktop and hoisted himself up to sit on it. He was too short otherwise to look right into his eyes. It was time to see to whom he was truly loyal to.

_"Legilimens."_

* * *

"What's wrong, Harry?" Tom asked with true concern, seeing the pained expression on his face.

"N-nothing," Harry said, trying to blink away the tears of pain. Within the past few hours, he and Tom had talked about many things and had become closer than before. Harry was just trying to convince Tom to try flying on a broom with him someday when the pain suddenly hit. It felt as if his head was being split open, and the pounding right behind his eyes was trying to blind him. He was vaguely aware that Tom's arms had come around him at some point, but he couldn't really care.

When the pain suddenly stopped, he had to lean fully onto Tom's hard chest as he let the remnants of the pain pass. When he felt fingers massaging his temples, he groaned in relief. The massage was lessening the headache a little, and after awhile, he felt boneless. Sitting in Tom's lap felt right, and was also the best thing he'd ever felt. It was as if he was _supposed_ to be there.

"Better?" he asked gently, liking the way his tears clung to his eyelashes as he looked up into his red eyes.

"Yeah," Harry said, basking in the comfort of another person embracing him. Normally, he'd reject this kind of touch, as he disliked another's touch in fear of it becoming painful. But when it was Tom who did it...

Harry closed his eyes, trying to commit this moment into his memory. He loved it when Tom was the one who did this to him. Before he realized it, he was asleep, feeling far safer than he'd ever felt before.

* * *

Severus collapsed behind his desk as Potter exited his mind. His head was pounding from the mind assault, and if that wasn't bad enough, he could see Potter's smug smile. He wanted to lash out, make his anger known, but his rational mind was still trying to tell him something.

"You... insufferable... brat...!" he said, trying to get his mask back.

"Oh, am I, Severus?" he said innocently.

" _Professor Snape_ to you, Potter!" he said, gritting his teeth. Oh, how he hated the boy!

The moment Voldemort's (well, Harry's) face become cold and calculating, Severus knew he'd just done something very, very dangerous.

"Is that so?" he said with a smile that sent shivers down his spine. Then, it hit him; Potter shouldn't know about Legilimency, he never even knew that sometimes Dumbledore would slip into his mind not-so-subtly.

"You're not Potter, are you?" he stated with caution.

"Bravo, Severus, great deduction," he chuckled, not Harry-like. "Now rise, I've got a mission for you."

The moment his Dark Mark flared in accordance to his command, he realized whom he exactly was.

"M-my Lord!" Severus' mouth nearly gaped in surprise.

"I have seen that your loyalties lie somewhere, not with me, nor Dumbledore, but to Lily Potter," he said coolly. Severus lowered his head in shame of getting caught red-handed. "And now I shall give you a mission that will help her son."

Severus' surprise this time was not concealable. "You will make me a potion that will help me with my resurrection. It shall be done in Yule, and I expect you to find Harry before 9."

"Yes, My Lord," Severus bowed, but in his mind, he'd caught onto one thing; Did the Dark Lord just called his nemesis 'Harry'? How come they were calling each other by their first names already?

Voldemort just smirked as he put a piece of parchment onto Severus' desk before leaving. Arriving in Gryffindor's dorms, he quickly did Harry's night duties before closing his eyes, the black diary underneath his pillow next to his (well, Harry's) wand. With a smile, he drifted off to sleep, going back into Harry's mindscape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not beta'ed. Will find the time to beta my previous chapters, but can't guarantee that, so all mistakes are mine!
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	5. Harry, meet Voldie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After the worst presentation in the world of presentation history... I present to you... Chapter 5~~

When Harry woke up, he felt as if he had the best dream ever, of feeling safe and protected, and cared for. Casting a  _Tempus,_ he got out of bed yawning, picking up his toiletries and a fresh set of clothes.

He noticed that he was in his pajama pants, which should've made him feel alarmed, but didn't due to the early hours and the fact that he'd just woken up from his sleep. The fact that his dormmates were still asleep was also something he'd be thankful for later, when he was far more awake.

Once he was done, he went into the common room to wait for Hermione, at least, to come down.

"Harry, dearie, Professor Snape wants to see you," a voice said, startling him, not due to the suddenness of her speaking, but the fact that Snape of all people would want to see him. He hoped that it wasn't because he did something bad...

The Fat Lady had already gone from the portrait she used to call him, so he knew that he didn't have much choice over it. Besides, the Fat Lady never lets the Gryffindors get into trouble, and would more than likely protect them from dangerous teachers like Snape, so it must've been important.

He opened the portrait that leads to the Gryffindor common room. "Good morning Professor Snape," Harry said timidly. The potions master seemed to be more frazzled than he usually was, and he didn't know what to think of it.

"Potter," he said curtly. He wondered why he was acting oddly, for Snape that is. The berating he was expecting did not come, however, as the potions master only stared at him with his calculating gaze.

Then he remembered the detention he was supposed to serve the day before. Paling, he hoped against hope that he didn't remember. "Y-yes Professor...?"

"Come," he ordered, turning around and walking with wide strides that Harry had to run just to keep up.

"Sir??"

Harry's steps finally caught up to him when the potions master stopped in front of the potions classroom. But that wasn't their destination, it was the office in which the door was connected to the classroom and the professor's private chambers (but no way would Snape want him of all people to know where it was, so here they were.) Snape went straight to his desk, gesturing a nervous Harry to sit in the chair across the desk.

"Do you know why I called you here this early in the morning?" he said, his gaze seemed as if it were trying to freeze up his insides.

"Uh, no, sir."

Snape just stared at him, and Harry truly hoped that he didn't remember his missed detention. Well, that hope seemed so far when the Potions Master looked at him that way...

"Read this," Snape threw him a piece of parchment and he caught it, thanks to his Seeker reflex. Blinking, Harry's eyes landed on the writing within. Maybe his hopes weren't so far after all.

* * *

Severus had grumbled all the way to Gryffindor tower, hating the fact that the Dark Lord had written his note in _Parselscript._ How did he expect him to read it when it's all just a bunch of squiggles? He'd had a restless sleep, and was awoken at two in the morning. Having got nothing to do, he'd gotten ready for the day. As he was exiting his private chambers, he realized that Parselscript was Parseltongue in writing. If that's so, then a Parselmouth should be able to read it, right?

He was betting on the possibility, and so had gone to get Potter, since he was the only one who could talk in Parseltongue. After half an hour of waiting in front of the Fat Lady, Potter had come out. Seems like he's actually an early riser, contrary to many people's beliefs. He contemplated asking Potter whether or not he knew that the Dark Lord could possess him--or that he even knew of his existence within him.

"'The Body Creation Ritual'...?" Potter asked after a while. Severus intertwined his fingers and looked at Potter. It seems like, a Parselmouth could also read Parselscript. "Why would you want me to read this?"

"If you could focus, Potter, what does the writing look like to you?"

His eyes went back to the squiggles on the parchment, his brows making a frown as he concentrated on finding some sort of fault in the writing. "It looks like English to me," he said finally, looking at Severus in confusion.

"Try again."

And he did. He was surprisingly obedient, he mused. Well, not obedient enough to create potions with the direction he'd laid out, the dunderhead. When his eyes widened, he knew that Potter had seen what he wanted him to see. "It's... it's all squiggles..." he said in wonder. "But I still see English."

The last statement was frustratingly unnecessary, but Severus let it go.

"Well, then," he said, somehow concealing the irritation from his tone. "Write down the English for those... 'squiqqles' for detention tonight." Potter knew what a dismissal was and was wise to hurry out the door. Severus smirked. No doubt his Lord had wanted to use a living sacrifice so that he could resurrect. But why Potter though? Why did he inhabit the boy-who-lived? The one whom had vanquished him as a baby?

* * *

_For a detention, it was quite lenient_ , Harry thought. _And here I hoped he forgot the whole detention thing..._  Voldemort smiled at the thought, looking at the sleeping boy in his mindscape. If his plans worked out well, then the boy would stay asleep. It's not like he didn't want Harry to learn Occlumency nor Legilimency, no. To be able to do that, you must first awaken your inner-self and explore your own mindscape. But Harry's body was too young. Awakening one's inner-self means to unlock the magic locked within a witch/wizard which usually happens when one comes into their magical inheritance, or they turn 17.

Call it unlocking your magical boost.

He'd found out about that fact when he was in the Mongolian Wizarding City, in its' massive library (who knew they had the second biggest magical library in the whole world?). Then again, the Mongols were one of the oldest Wizarding settlements, so it was probably to be expected. It was also the place where he'd found the Body Creation ritual, a very, very old ritual created back when there was famine killing many magical beings, and children were difficult to produce due to a war between magicals, almost like the pureblood-mudblood beliefs today's Wizarding World has.

"Hey Voldemort," Tom said, materializing right before him.

"Tom," he nodded curtly. "What brings you here?"

"I'm bored," he said simply. "Come on, let's go to the diary and do stuff there!"

"Do stuff?" Voldemort raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, sorry, Harry's been rubbing off on my word choice," he said sheepishly.

Voldemort just sighed.

"Alright. We don't need to do anything after this, we just need to trust Severus and Harry to do the ritual right," the Dark Lord shrugged and got out of bed, brushing his fingers against the sleeping Harry's forehead. He looked so peaceful too...

Tom grabbed his hand with a smile and then they both disappeared. Had they been in Harry's mindscape a moment longer, they would've known of his next thought.

* * *

"Here you go, sir," Harry said, handing over the translation of the parchment he gave him after dinner. Snape just nodded and began to read the translation when Harry had quickly made himself scarce. It had been a very tense day for him, he had been expecting some more of the 'Slytherin Heir' attacks, but apparently not. There hadn't been any more attacks ever since he'd acquired Tom's Diary.

But sometimes, as he was walking through the hallways, he'd hear a voice, saying that it was hungry, a voice that no one else but him who could hear it. He didn't like it, not the voice and the fact that only he could hear it, he disliked anyone or anything going hungry. He knew firsthand what hunger felt like; he'd been starved all his life, after all. Some nights, he'd follow the voice in his invisibility cloak alone, and other times, he'd go with both Ron and Hermione.

He wondered if Tom knew about the voice? But he was a diary... But he had a hunch that Tom _might_ just know what the sound was. Once he was back on his bed, he took out the diary from his robe pocket -- he'd picked up the habit of bringing it everywhere since Tom told him that thievery though wasn't common, actually happens, and he was afraid that Tom would be taken away from him -- and picked up a quill to start writing--

But he'd been writing the whole day, and he wasn't in the mood to write anything more. Maybe a visit to Tom wouldn't be too unwelcome? Should he write to him first to tell him that he's visiting? Remembering the happiness on Tom's face the last time he visited, he decided on a surprise visit. _Well, here goes nothing..._

* * *

"What, you can't conjure wine?" Tom asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"Food can't be created out of nothing," Voldemort drawled, fingering the book he'd conjured because Tom had asked for it. He knew of what boredom feels like, so he was somewhat sympathizing with his younger self.

"One of Lady Magick's rules," Tom acknowledged with a sigh. Voldemort just smirked at him. "By the way, I've been wondering," Tom said after a while of silence. "Little Ginny said that you're supposed to look like a snakeface, what happened to that?"

"Oh that," his older self looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, to be honest, you remember when I told you I created five other horcruxes?"

"Of course, and you're still crazy for doing that," Tom said with a pointed glare.

Voldemort was quiet for a second, acknowledging his younger self's scolding. "With each horcrux I created, my sanity slipped. And with my sanity, my looks followed. Only last year, when I'd finally been able to possess Quirell was I able to regain some sense of sanity. And also, it seems like there were two horcruxes within Hogwarts, and so it helped me with regaining my sanity. Although I know where and what one of my horcruxes were, the other I didn't know. Your arrival into Hogwarts also played a big role in both my looks and sanity."

"Hm, so there are two, three including me, currently within Hogwarts?" Tom asked.

"More or less. If the other horcruxes could be used for the Body Creation Ritual, then it'd be all the better. I still don't know where the other horcrux is, though," Voldemort admitted.

"Well then, we should concentrate on getting the other horcrux, the one you know of, then," Tom said, and Voldemort nodded. "We should also--"

Voldemort looked at the strange look that crossed Tom's face before something--or someone-- materialized from somewhere high above. Both Voldemort and Tom immediately moved to catch the falling person--Harry, they noticed.

"Harry?!" Tom said, surprised yet pleased. Voldemort smirked at his look.

"Hi Tom!" Harry said after he recovered enough from the fall. His eyes landed immediately onto the older of the two. "Who's this?" he asked curiously.

"You don't remember?" Tom asked, remembering that Voldemort had told him about the soul bonding.

"Mm, he looks like you...?" he said, ending his words with a question, his head tilted to the side a little. "Your brother?" Both Tom and Voldemort had to hold back their chuckle at Harry's inquiry.

"It seems like he doesn't really remember," Voldemort said. "It seems like, he was far too delirious to remember that encounter."

"Bloody botched potions," Tom grumbled, annoyed. The elder wizard just shook his head before looking at Harry right in his eyes.

"My name is Tom Marvolo Riddle," he said, earning a confused look from Harry. "Also known as Lord Voldemort." Harry gasped and looked between the two.

"But you don't look like the back of Quirell's head," Harry said skeptically.

"Of course we don't," Tom scoffed. "That was the deformed version of an insane wraith that couldn't pass on."

"You want me to pass on?" Voldemort glared at Tom.

"Well..."

"So you're both the same person?" Harry asked again.

"Technically, yes we are. He," Voldemort motioned towards Tom, "Is a part of me, just trapped in a diary."

"But... how?"

"I did tell you that I was a very ambitious person back in Hogwarts," Tom said. "The ritual, it made people leave a part of their... essence within an object. It's a Dark Ritual, just so you know." Harry nodded.

"So, you're him, but from years ago?" Harry concluded.

"To put it in simple terms, yes," Voldemort said, nodding. Harry frowned, trying to process the information he'd just received, before nodding and accepting it.

"So, from the conversation before, I gathered that we'd already met before?" Harry asked.

Both Voldemort and Tom nodded. "You were dosed with an incomplete potion," Voldemort said. "You were in a state of delirium because of it."

"And then I met you?"

"Well, I was possessing a magical snake near Hogwarts grounds, and you found me."

"You see, the botched potion was incomplete, and if you haven't bonded with him," Tom jerked his head towards Voldemort, "Then you might as well have died that night."

Harry then looked at Voldemort in surprise. "Thank you for saving me," he said sincerely. The two wizards smiled at him, not used to being thanked so sincerely.

"That also means that we're now soulmates," Voldemort said offhandedly.

"Soulmates... so you're the love of my life?" Harry asked, his eyes sparkling at his own words.

"Basically, yes."

"But, you're a... wraith. How am I supposed be with you when you're not, you know, alive?" Harry asked with another frown.

"This is going to be a long talk, so let's sit down first," Tom sighed. Harry looked longingly towards the bed, which he knew from experience was soft, softer than he thought beds could be, but he followed both Toms to the sitting area, where there were comfortable-looking sofas around a small table. Tom and Voldemort sat next to each other, both pulling Harry to sit between them. Harry decided that it didn't matter where he sat, as long as Tom was there, it would be comfortable. Well, both Toms. He didn't want to think more on it, since he knew he'd confuse himself.

"We're planning on a modified version of the Body Creation Ritual," Voldemort said, starting the explanation. "It's going to be done in Yule, and Severus will be helping." Harry nodded.

"The Body Creation Ritual... what is it, actually?" Harry asked, melting when he felt their hands landed on his waist, their arms a warm comfort on his back.

"Back in the Tribal eras, there were Wizarding Tribes, so to speak," Tom explained, remembering what his older self had told him. "They were few and far in between, but they lived alongside magical beings, such as Wryms, Lamias, Dragons, Sirens... every single one of them co-existed with them. Copulation between human wizards and witches were difficult, and many had gone to a few magical beings to have children." Harry tried to imagine how a dragon and a human could have a baby, but he couldn't because he didn't know how babies were made, specifically. He was absent when Sex Ed was introduced in his primary school, and the Dursley's didn't think it important for a freak like him to know.

"There were people that were disgusted by it, of course," Voldemort continued. "So they started to create many things; golems, combining magical essence to create an embryo, creating potions so that men could naturally have wombs..." Harry wondered what a womb was, and why men don't have it. "And so, the Body Creation Ritual was created. As the name says, it's a ritual to create a body."

"But once a body is created, they would have no soul, and so they would be more like statues that could decay like humans than a living human being."

"So we thought, if we could transfer our souls into the body, then it would be the same as creating a human being. Since we are magical people, it would have not that many problems. The essence from our magic would make the body look like us, and our magic could make it's body cells and organs come alive, and we would be human beings."

"It would be a resurrection ritual for us," Tom said at the end.

"That's a very nice ritual," Harry said thoughtfully. "If we put dying people's souls within the body, then they wouldn't die?"

"It's not that easy," Tom shook his head.

"The soul and it's magic will decide how old the body will be, so if, say, an old person were to die of old age, then there's nothing one could do about it. If their magic is depleted so much that they have an exhausted magical core, they wouldn't be able to survive the ritual. But if you're talking about someone, a baby or a child, dying due to a disease, then it might be possible to save them from death, but I wouldn't count on it."

"As we said, the ritual depends on the magic within a person, whether or not their disease is affecting their body only, or their magic. Plus, one's essence would make their body almost exactly like their previous body, so if they have any deformities, then the deformity will form on the created body."

"Oh..." Harry nodded. "Where are you gonna hold the ritual, then?"

"The Chamber of Secrets," they both said at the same time. Harry blinked.

"It's a secret place Salazar Slytherin created to contain one of Hogwarts' guardians, a basilisk. It also acts as his private chambers," Tom explained. Harry's curiosity piqued.

"A basilisk...?"

"Yes, a basilisk. She's Salazar's familiar."

"But, shouldn't a basilisk eat something? Why haven't I ever seen her before?"

"Oh, she does eat, of course. She's also the reason why there is curfew in Hogwarts," Tom shrugged.

"She usually slithers within the walls and eat rats and mice in the sewer pipes everyday, to monitor the school and also to hunt for food."

Harry then remembered the voice he'd been hearing as of late. "Is she the one that keeps saying that she's hungry? Is her voice the one I could hear but no one else could?"

"Yes," both Toms said at the same time.

"Oh..." Harry said, yawning.

"Come on, let's go sleep, Harry," Tom said, standing up and giving Harry his hand to help him stand. They walked towards the soft, comfy bed, before Harry noticed that Voldemort wasn't following.

"You're not gonna join us?" Harry asked.

"You want me to join you?" Voldemort asked back.

"Up to him," Tom said with a shrug, pulling back the bed covers. Harry looked at Tom and then to Voldemort.

"Please?" Harry's eyes practically _begged_ him to join them, even though it wasn't his intentions to do so. Voldemort gulped, feeling the effects of his gaze in his trousers. Grumbling, Voldemort joined them and laid beside Harry, Tom on his other side. When Harry's eyes closed, both Tom and Voldemort looked at him, basking in his presence and innocence. If only he knew what effects he had on both of them...

"Did you see that?" Voldemort asked, a hand petting Harry's soft hair out of habit.

"When you said men could have wombs?" Tom confirmed.

"He has so much to learn on the Wizarding World..." Voldemort said, his gaze soft when Harry slightly stirred before settling between them.

"And we'll be the one to teach him, now will we," Tom chuckled, turning onto his side to face Harry, putting his arm across his waist. He knew Harry liked to be touched affectionately, seeing that he was starved of it, from what he gathered from their conversations before. Harry sighed when he felt the warm weight on his waist, and he felt two pairs of lips kissing him, one on his shoulder blade, the other on his forehead.

He knew that he shouldn't have accepted them so easily, but having the two surround him, Voldemort in front of him and Tom behind him felt so nice, and so right... He liked feeling protected, what after the childhood he'd had, if you could call that a childhood. He trusted his gut feeling, and it was telling him that it was alright to accept both Tom and Voldemort, that they were going to keep him safe no matter what. He didn't care that the two surrounding him on the bed were Dark Lords.

If they were this gentle to him, then maybe having a Dark Lord or two as his soulmate wouldn't be such a bad thing after all...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys I'm really hungry right now too bad I'm fasting ;_; my own fault tho, writing this near a waffle stand... I love waffles...
> 
> \---- To be continued --
> 
> P.S. I don't regret anything!! D:


	6. Ginny's Problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Intermezzo? Ginny's side of the story!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imagine your mom... being all Dumbledore... like, Dumbledore, Mom version... while also being all Sevvie... Severus.. Um, Snape. With her bluntness... manipulating bluntness... ugh. I'm aware that she's trying to guilt trip me into choosing another Uni major, but I'm not as interested in other majors as I am in my current major D: What should I do...
> 
> (If you're asking about my dad, he's the combination of Hermione, with his diligent-ness and smarts, and Kingsley with his I gotta work thing...)
> 
> New chapter?! Again?! Enjoy...?

"Why didn't it work...?!" she grit her teeth as she looked at the shattered vial near her feet. Her temper was rising, and she was very close to just outright dose her Harry with Amortentia. But she'd had Tom's help, and she'd also had some upperclassmen's help, in exchange for a cuddle session or two at night. She didn't think that her actions would lead up to something particularly horrible in the future, she just wanted to have her Harry!

She sat against the wall, careful to not injure herself from the glass shards, and pulled out a familiar black book.

 _"Tom!"_ she wrote, reading it in her mind with a whiny voice.

 _"Yes, Ginerva?"_ the book replied with it's cursive writing. She envied the neat and beautiful writing, but it was just a book, so there shouldn't be anything to be envious of, right? For all she knew, the book might just have belonged to a girl far older than her instead of a guy at all.

 _"I want my Harry!"_ she wrote, pouting cutely as if the book could see it. She was a master manipulator, being the only girl in the family and having her brothers and parents at her beck and call since she was just a child had honed her manipulating skills. She was afraid that she'd be sorted into Slytherin, with the slimy snakes and evil good-for-nothings, and the Hat had contemplated putting her in Slytherin but decided against it. She remembered the Hat's every word...

_'Hmm, hmm, oh? You've got a manipulator streak going on here, fit for a Slytherin...' the Hat hummed in her head. She paled drastically, she didn't want to be in Slytherin, she wanted to be in Gryffindor, where her Harry was! He's supposed to be hers, her mum said so! Just before she contemplated ripping the Hat off of her head, the Hat's voice sounded again, 'And yet you're brash and brave... Must be...'_

_"GRYFFINDOR!"_

She'd sighed in relief before the Hat was pulled off of her head, and she immediately sat right next to her brother, near the Boy-Who-Lived, and in front of Hermione. It'd made slipping the potion easier, and she made sure that her Harry would get the potion little by little, and by the time the potion had disappeared, he'd be too far in a haze to think twice before bonding with anyone, namely her. It was worth it, selling the stray Pigmypuffs to the Black Market in Knockturn Alley for 15 Galleons. It was enough to buy the bonding potion and some of her better school supplies, and she'd had a few sickles left by the time she was done.

She'd started slipping the potion bit by bit ever since the twins had arrived with Harry in her dad's Ford Angela, and she'd continued dosing even his sweets, no matter how little he bought. She just had to make sure that he doesn't share those sweets to anyone else... which she'd succeeded by buying even more sweets, and all of them her brother's favourites. Yes she'd succeeded in every plan she'd carefully created...

But why wasn't he begging for her to bond with him?! It made her irritated as her Harry wouldn't even look at her twice. She knew his looks say that she was nothing more than a friend, maybe in the future a sister to him. It irritated her, the looks he gave her. She'd written every single irritation and concerns into the diary, and due to habit, had also written it the way that painted her as someone whom had the right to have Harry as her own.

Of course, Tom soon got annoyed by her and ended up possessing her, _imperio_ -ing her to leave the second floor girl's lavatory when he was done. He had originally wanted to kill her, using her sacrifice to resurrect, but her tongue was too stiff, and she couldn't be used to open the Chamber of Secrets, even if he wanted to. His plans to release Jamila from the Chamber could be done only barely, only after a lot of conversing and trying to make the stiff tongue move to hiss.

But then he was found by Harry, and was with him ever since.

Meanwhile, in an unused corridor, deep within the castle, Ginny was lost and panicking, since she couldn't find her diary anywhere. In the end, she was caught by Miss Norris and had to serve a few weeks worth of detention since she was caught outside the Great Hall at dinnertime.

* * *

She'd continued on after talking with a few upperclassmen to help her with creating Amortentia, and she'd created more than a few batches of the contra-thing potion. She didn't know the word, but she knew that back in the days it would be used as something illegal, and currently she was trying to sound smart, as she sold another vial of it to some eager students. She was slowly making a fortune out of it. She only hoped that Professor Snape doesn't notice the missing ingredients, although even she saw a few ingredients less each time she broke in.

(Of course, Snape knew that a few students had been in possession of a contraband potion and was taking delight in taking points from them each time he found it. He knew that it was a Gryffindor whom had broken in, but not exactly _who._ )

She was getting desperate, each time she dosed her Harry with the potion, it didn't seem to work, yet if she dosed another person with the same batch, it'd work. She disliked this development. After wasting three or four batches of Amortentia on Harry, she proceeded to sell the rest of it to the Black Market, taking five Galleons for each potion vial and making herself rich in the process. She needed to find something that could at the very least control her Harry's mind so that he'd fall in love with her, then she'd be Lady Potter, and become the richest girl in Wizarding Britain, competed only by the Black family and the Malfoy family.

She wondered if a charmed accessory could be used to control a person's mind... Of course, she'd get to it the next time she get a chance to go to Knockturn Alley. If she were to buy something like that, then she knew it'd cost a lot. So for now, she stashed her contra-thing money somewhere safe so that she could use it to find a mind-controlling accessory. She just hoped that her Harry would accept it, so that she could activate the item's spell and finally become Lady Potter.

A sinister, nearly insane smile crossed her face, and she was thankful that no one was currently near enough to see it. Or so she thought.

* * *

Harry's days passed relatively uneventfully, and before he knew it, Christmas--Yule, as Tom and Voldemort would insist--was just around the corner. The students were packing to stay with their family during the holiday, but it seems like, his holiday would be spent with the resident Potions Master, and later, Tom. He was looking forward to seeing Tom as a human, even if his body was created by a ritual.

To him, it was worth it.

He'd visited both Tom and Voldemort in the diary, enough times to get so close to them that he would be talking non-stop about Quidditch just like he talked about it with Ron, with the difference that with both Tom and Voldemort, he would be the speaker, while with Ron, he was the listener. After parting with both Ron and Hermione, Harry went back to the Gryffindor rooms. There were only a few left, five from Gryffindor, two from Hufflepuff, ten from Ravenclaw, and only one from Slytherin.

When Harry arrived in the diary, there was only Tom present, and he was reading a book before catching him from a painful fall.

"Where's Voldie?" he asked, liking the cute ring it had whenever he said that name. Tom just smirked in amusement whereas Voldemort would glare at him for saying that, but didn't do much of anything to stop him from calling him that.

"He's searching for something, probably," Tom said with a shrug, guiding the twelve-year-old to sit on his lap as he read on the sofa.

"But he's a wraith...?" Harry asked, tilting his head to one side. Tom chuckled at him, the vibrations from his chest travelling to Harry's small back, making him melt against the larger frame.

"He has his own ways," he answered mysteriously, making Harry pout.

"So what're you reading?"

"A book about Soulmates," he answered whilst showing him the page. Harry's interest was piqued when he read it.

"What does it mean, _'No other love attempts will come between soulmates'_?" Harry asked.

"Well," Tom said, licking his lips at the look on Harry's face. Really, he wasn't a pedophile, he never did explore his sexuality, just a few flings here and there (according to Voldemort anyway), so he wasn't all that aware of what his preferences were, but Harry's open, innocent expression was just too tempting to ignore. "Well," he coughed, trying to clear his mind from anything inappropriate, "It means that any attempts like cheating, or getting dosed with love potions will be futile as you're already bound body, heart, and soul to your soulmate."

"Love potions?" You could make someone fall in love with a potion? For some reason, Harry didn't like that thought.

"Yes, to be specific, Amortentia. It's an illegal potion unless the ministry and/or anyone that has the ministry's approval used it. It's usually used to breed animals and a few magical beings such as Hippogryffs so that they wouldn't go extinct, but if one were to dose it to a human, they'd... adore the person they see first. Adore, not love," Tom said, a dark look crossing on his face.

"Oh," Harry said simply, leaning into Tom as much as he could to offer him comfort. He didn't want to ask why the dark look passed his face when Amortentia was mentioned, he knew that even Tom had his own secrets. He'd want comfort too if he were to talk about his life at the hand of the Dursley's. Tom smiled thankfully at Harry, loving how considerate Harry was to him. Tom leaned in and kissed Harry's forehead in gratitude before pulling back and going back to reading. They spent their time just doing that, basking in the presence of each other.

Harry didn't want to think about the Dursley's, not now that he was in Tom's arms. But he couldn't help a twinge of insecurity, what if Tom couldn't save Harry from the Dursley's? What if Tom, despite being soulmates with him, didn't want to be with him in the end? He'd always been such an unlovable freak, why would anyone start doing the opposite now, after all this time? What if--

Warm lips started him from the depressing train of thoughts, and Harry's eyes instinctively closed. The lips on his massaged his own, and he could feel Tom's tongue licking his bottom lip before the elder wizard pulled back, leaving Harry tense and blushing. His tongue darted from his lips to taste Tom's saliva on his lips, and though he might've thought it gross to do so, he couldn't help it.

His whole body was making him confused, and Tom's actions just made it more so.

"What's got you thinking so hard, Harry?" The arms around his waist tightened until his backside was pressed against Tom's crotch area. The words were like velvet, yet heavy and husky in his ears, and he also felt a wet tongue licking the lobe of his ear and teeth nibbling on it. Harry couldn't suppress the shudder that went through him, and he looked confusedly at Tom.

"U-umm," he stuttered, not knowing what to say. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the dark red eyes that was trying to dissect him until he could read his very soul with them, even devour him if he so wished. Oh, the power of eyes... Said eyes softened when Harry couldn't find a suitable answer, and Tom pushed his nose into Harry's bird nest of a hair, inhaling deeply and feeling his half-hard member twitch even more in his trousers. He shifted casually so that Harry wouldn't feel it and get scared at the feeling.

"No matter what, Harry," Tom murmured against his hair, "We--I will protect you." Harry teared up then and there, and he buried his face into Tom's hard chest. No one had ever outright told him, no less promised him, that they'd protect him. He'd always had to try to survive the Dursley's beatings, and even last year's encounters was of him trying to save his friends, regardless of his own safety. Tom's words were sincere, not an empty promise, and he knew that--felt that. Whether there'd be just one Tom Riddle, or two Tom Riddles with one being the Dark Lord he'd defeated when he was a baby, or even three, four, five Tom Riddles, he knew all of them would protect him.

Harry laughed at the thought of having five Toms protecting him. It was just so absurd to think about it that way that he couldn't imagine it. Wiping his tears on Tom's shirt, Harry said, "Thank you." He shifted so that he straddled Tom's lap and buried his face in the crook of his neck, finding that position to be comfortable. Soon enough, Harry was so comfortable, he was boneless. Tom's hand had taken the job of rubbing his back soothingly, with the other still holding the book he was reading. Harry was blissfully unaware of the erection Tom sported, even though it'd created a massive tent in his trousers by now.

When Voldemort had arrived, it was to this particular scene. He, of course, immediately noticed the tent between Harry's body and Tom's, and smirked at him. "Going soft? Or not?"

"You sound dirty, old man," Tom retaliated, knowing that Harry was asleep by the way he was breathing.

"But I'm your future old man, and you'll be me, sooner or later," Voldemort smirked. Tom rolled his eyes in annoyance, and stilled when Harry mumbled something against his chest as he snuggled impossibly closer to Tom. His body was now pressed into his erection, and Tom couldn't help the moan that escaped due to the friction it caused. Voldemort's laugh made him earn a glare from his younger self.

"Oh don't give me that," Voldemort snorted.

"Oh I certainly will... Voldie." At the dark, amused look, Tom knew that Harry was rubbing off on Voldemort--no pun intended. He knew that if he were in Voldemort's shoes a few years ago, he might've lost control of his magic due to him viewing it as an insult. But now... The two Dark Lords watched as Harry slept, content in the knowledge that they had the best soulmate there was in the whole universe.

* * *

Ginny stepped out of the floo, having told her parents that she was visiting Luna. Really, she and the Lovegood girl were friends, only because Harry was friends with the lunatic. She didn't really like her that much, what with her odd personality, though she was an amusing company when one needed her to be. She shook her head, this wasn't the time to think about Looney Lovegood. It was time to find Harry the perfect accessory to control his mind with!

Turns out, finding the perfect, most suitable item was very difficult, and specifically asking the owner to add the enchantments she wanted had been very costly. Good thing she'd stashed her earnings from the Amortentia in a safe place rather than spend it for clothes and jewelry like she'd been tempted to do. Now, all she needed to do was to send it to Harry... or better yet, give it to him herself.

Her plans were in motion, and everything was coming into place. _Just a little bit more..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So all day today, I've only slept for one hour. Until I finally got to nap a few hours ago. Then I went to eat. Now I'm sleepy, but I know I can't sleep because I'm not sleepy enough to sleep... so now I do this;  
> while(Sleep==NULL){  
> write();  
> read();  
> die();  
> } return 0;
> 
> And I know, I did intend this to be all Ginny, but it just didn't feel right... so a bit more Tom/Harry time was put in~ Nine minutes until midnight, and I hope I could sleep... NOW.
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	7. Yule

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, back to chapter 7! So yesterday I spent half a day, just sitting around, guarding a stand for an event in my Uni, and hell, I didn't think that it would be so... boring. So I spent the time reading Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard and finally got back at 5 PM... And guys... wish me luck on my language class today cuz today's the day I take the final exams for it D: It's weight is 50% from the whole grading system and I don't wanna fail, cuz even if I don't pride myself in anything academic (and everything else due to my laziness), linguistics is the only thing that I could pride myself in... As sad as that may sound ;v;
> 
> Oh well, let's get this chapter on the road! (On the net... not road. Ugh...)

"Potter," Severus said curtly.

"Severus," Harry's face morphed into a sly, yet innocent smile. It was to be expected, that his Lord would have to possess him so that they could enter the Chamber of Secrets. Even though they both knew that Harry could speak Parseltongue, they didn't know that they both knew of the fact. And so, Severus ended up thinking that only the Dark Lord knew of a special password to the Chamber of Secrets while Voldemort thought that it was beneficial for Harry in the future to keep his ability a secret, despite the whole school knowing.

_"Open,"_ Voldemort hissed, hearing it from Harry's tongue made him shudder. He didn't have a forked tongue, something the Gaunts and Slytherin line had to assist in their special ability, and yet he could speak it so easily as if he was born to do it. In Harry's robe pocket, the Diary rested, right next to the Diadem that held his other horcrux. It seemed that only the diary that held half of his soul and the main soul piece could gain a consciousness of their own, and the diary due to the fact that it was in Ginny's hands for a while before Harry took it.

When they'd arrived at the Chamber, Voldemort used a special spell that could light up the whole Chamber, thanks to Salazar Slytheirn himself. Voldemort took out the items needed to prepare the ritual and placed them systematically, before turning to Severus with a look that didn't fit the young, innocent face of a twelve-year-old. "Do you remember the steps, Severus?" he asked.

"Yes, my Lord," he nodded.

"Well then, I entrust these to you then," he said, handing over the diary and diadem to the Potions Master before letting Harry take over his body once more.

* * *

"I've been wondering," Harry said, looking up from a defence book he found in one of the shelves. He wasn't certain that the question would be accepted, tolerated, but he was curious.

"Ask away, Harry," Tom nodded, closing the book he was reading.

"Umm, so there's two of you," Harry said, his voice taking on a tentative tone. "And you both have different thoughts, and you act differently, and such, right..." Tom nodded, his whole focus was Harry. "But then, you'll be in the same body... Will you both then merge?"

Tom hummed in thought. "Well, souls do have the tendency to merge, true," Tom said, noticing the hopeful and yet crestfallen look on Harry's face. "But then again, we shall see. Nothing in Soul Magick is definite, Harry."

"Oh, I see," Harry said, turning his head away so that Tom wouldn't see the sad look that crossed his face. But it seems like he failed anyways, because a few moments later, he heard Tom sigh and was gently pulled into his warm embrace.

"What's the matter Harry?" he asked, his tone gentle and soothing.

"... I'll miss you," he mumbled in response. "I'm just so used to having the two of you that... I don't know if having just one Tom would be enough."

"Harry, look at me," Tom said sternly, his eyes softening when those vivid green eyes turned to him, sadness clear within those orbs. "Just because there will only be one of us, it doesn't mean that we'll disappear completely when we merge. We'll still be the Toms you know," he said soothingly.

"But even so, you both are different in your own way," Harry argued, trying to hold back the sadness that threatened to overwhelm him.

"How so?"

"Well, Voldie is older, for one, and he's got this whole library of knowledge... And he's also ruthless and sadistic, and scary and is a Dark Lord out for my life, but he's also nice and gentle, and just so... so Voldie. And you on the other hand, you're younger, ambitious, not yet tainted so much by the darkness that covers Voldie's heart, you're not ruthless nor scary, nor are you out for my life, you're also nice and gentle and you like cuddling so much and you always pet my hair and you--"

A kiss on his lips stopped his words, and Harry was too startled to respond. Tom pulled away when he deemed him sufficiently surprised. "Listen to me, Harry," he ordered, his red, red eyes seemingly alight with... something. "Voldemort and I, we're of one essence. I am a part of him, and he is a part of me, and nothing can change that. We both have our own sadistic streaks, and while Voldemort has tasted insanity, and yet I haven't, we're still the same. If it were me that became the main soul piece back then, then I'd be the one whom had tasted insanity and he would be the one bored out of his mind in an unresponsive, unstimulating diary."

"So nothing will change much?" Harry asked after mulling over the new information, the revelation Tom gave to him.

"No, unless you want to say otherwise," he chuckled, burying his face in Harry's wild locks. "There'll be one Tom less, but that doesn't make us any less of ourselves than we already are."

Harry smiled at that and sighed in relief. He didn't know why he felt so insecure at having only one Tom, but he didn't want to dwell on it too much. Things, at this time, was simple between them, and Harry liked the simplicity. The world was too complicated in his opinion. Harry closed his eyes and said a small 'thank you' before the world spun and he fell on his face onto the floor.

When he got his bearings, he got up and looked around. He was in a spacious room like when he's in the diary, only now there was a certain humidity that made him slightly uncomfortable, and a smell that he didn't like at all. The next thing he took note of was Snape, bent over with a chalk on one hand, and a charcoal on the other, drawing on the floor. It was a very beautiful drawing, he decided, with lots of swirls and dots, and also a few runes that he recognized because of Hermione.

"Don't you dare try to bother me, Potter," Snape snarled before Harry even had the chance to say anything. Aware that he wasn't needed at the moment, Harry huffed and walked away, wanting to explore wherever he was. He thinks that it's the place Tom and Voldie told him of, the Chamber of Secrets. It didn't look like it contained many secrets though, looking bare and empty, and humid to boot. But maybe its secrets resided within the walls?

He was reminded of the Slytherin's common room entrance, and the Diagon Alley entrance. Maybe it did, he decided and started walking along the walls, feeling the moss and wetness, and also some sort of slime but he didn't want to think much about it. He didn't notice himself getting farther and farther away from the main chamber, until he belatedly realized that he was in some place darker than before, and also smelled of something rotten. He gagged at the smell and turned to go back to where he was. After walking a few long minutes, he realized that he was lost.

* * *

Severus chanted calmly, feeling the magic thick in the air as he concentrated on the ritual. Sweat poured from his forehead, and his eyes were closed, brows furrowed in a frown. It was almost midnight, according to his body clock. He heard something in the distance, but didn't think much of it, opting on completing the mission his Lord gave to him. _'But where is that Potter brat?'_ he thought. He couldn't hear any shuffling footsteps, and breathing that would indicate that Potter would be in the vicinity. There was hissing, and he remembered the myth that a basilisk lived within the mythical Chamber of Secrets.

He didn't want to break concentration, but he was worried nonetheless. There was more hissing and the sound of something slithering around, and he felt a heavy gaze on his back, and he stubbornly kept his eyes closed, and kept on chanting the annoyingly long chant, until finally, he could feel magic in the air with the thickest density he'd ever felt before. It was like feeling Dumbledore's unrestrained magical power, combined with Voldemort's, multiplied by a few hundred, maybe thousand. He could feel a presence behind him, and he thought that it was Lady Magick overseeing the ritual.

When it was finally, finally done, Severus pointed his wand towards the two items his Lord had entrusted to him, and using the soul transferring spell, he tapped his wand onto the new body of his master. For a moment, he thought that the ritual didn't work, until the body took shape into a handsome, younger version of his Lord, looking as if he was around eighteen to twenty years old. When dark red eyes opened, it was a breathtaking moment for him.

It was a good thing that Severus had only love one person in his life, because he could see himself easily falling for this... person, the Dark Lord, just by his looks.

Dark red eyes focused on Severus, and he opened his mouth, showing perfect, pearly white teeth, before saying, "Where's Harry?", followed by a hiss from him. Severus froze and looked around noting that the Potter brat wasn't anywhere he thought he was. Behind him, an answering hiss sounded, and the sound of something slithering away made him cautiously turn around. The only thing he saw was a huge tail disappearing around a corner, and he knew that he'd just seen the tail of a basilisk.

* * *

Harry was scared, the place he's in was so dark that he couldn't see what's in front of him. It made him feel claustrophobic, and reminded him of the days where he was trapped in his cupboard without any light to go on, even at night. A waste of electricity, he remembered Vernon saying. He nearly slipped a few times, and the only thing guiding him was the wall to his left, which he couldn't keep his hand off of.

Then there was the sound he'd heard many times, the voice he thought he'd imagined many times and spent a while chasing before losing the voice altogether.

_"Little hatchling, where are you?"_

Confused, Harry replied, _"I'm here."_ It didn't sound like Tom, nor Voldemort. It didn't sound manly at all. It sounded more feminine and motherly than the manly type he associated Tom's voice with. There was some sort of slithering sound and a rumble, before he felt a presence right behind him.

_"Little hatchling, master is searching for you,"_ the voice said, and even though he couldn't see in the dark, he could feel that the owner of the voice was many times larger than him. _"Climb, little hatchling."_

With the order, Harry turned around and reached out a hand, trying to get a feel of what he was supposed to climb. The first thing he felt were scales, and he was slightly afraid that it was something dangerous. But the one talking to him sounded gentle and motherly, and was trying to help him, surely it's not that dangerous? Deciding to trust his opinion, he slowly and carefully climbed the only living being next to him.

_"Hang on tight, little hatchling,"_ was the only warning before the being moved. It was a quick ride, but it was exhilarating. The sharp, quick turns had made him remember quidditch and it was something familiar to him. When he saw light again, he was smiling and laughing happily. _"I've brought the little hatchling, master,"_ the being--a big snake, he realized--said, lowering her head so that Harry could hop off safely.

_"Good work, Jamila,"_ a familiar voice hissed, and Harry turned to the voice so quickly that he nearly slipped.

"Tom!" Harry said with a wide smile and ran up to hug him, much to Tom's amusement and Snape's surprise. Tom just chuckled and smiled tenderly at Harry's obvious happiness at his presence, much to the Potions Master's surprise. He was sure that he might just have a heart attack when Harry pulled back and kissed the darkest lord in history on the cheek with a giggle.

"Welcome back, Harry," Tom said, threading his fingers through the wild, raven locks. It was something that he did on a daily basis that he thought nothing of it, and Harry practically purred at the tender contact.

Snape honestly didn't want to break the moment, the most surprising, heart attack-inducing moment that had left him speechless ever since he noticed the Dark Lord calling Harry, 'Harry', but it seems like, he had to. "My Lord?"

"What is it, Severus?" he asked, eyes still on Harry.

"Your... robes, sir..." he said, handing out the clothes he'd prepared for his Lord. Harry's eyes widened and he pulled away so fast that he stumbled into the basilisk, face red and eyes averted from the Dark Lord's naked form. Tom took the clothes with a thank you before putting it on, not caring that there was an audience. Snape knew he was dismissed, but he didn't know where to go, so he walked up to the basilisk to gaze up in awe at the ancient, mythical being. Though somewhere in his mind, he thought of the possible potions he could brew from this huge one alone.

Tom walked up to the blushing Harry and kissed him tenderly, tasting the inside of his mouth with his tongue in a way that made Harry melt. When he pulled away, he delighted in the fact that he'd just taken away Harry's first kiss, in the real world, that is. Harry on the other hand, was breathless from the kiss. He'd never felt something that intense before, other than from when he was in the diary.

"My promise still stands, Harry," he purred, pressing the smaller body onto his, feeling the half hard erection he'd induced just by kissing him so thoroughly with a smug satisfaction. "I'll keep you safe no matter what." At Harry's nod, a band of magic tied them together, making the promise binding. Harry grinned at Tom and pecked him on the lips before nuzzling into the older wizard's body, content in the feeling of safety he made.

"Thank you," he mumbled before closing his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh, it happened so fast... Oh well. All mistakes are mine! And thank you for reading! (It's not the end yet, just an intermezzo (?) before I go to my doom)...
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	8. Playing Grounds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finals are at the end of this week, literally... or early next week...? I don't know, but I think I'm gonna put a hold on writing for a while... So, I'm gonna try to make this chapter longer than usual. I hope. Here's the next chapter, enjoy~

After a long hug, Tom pulled back to look at Harry properly. In the past few hours or so, he and Harry had been kissing, hugging, just spending time together. They were in one of Salazar's private chambers in the Chamber of Secrets. Severus was in another room altogether, seeing that he was just one call away. Jamila had gone back to slithering through the pipes, giving the two soulmates some time alone, because otherwise she'd just stay to watch over them. Tom wasn't very sure about snakes' -- or, well, basilisks' -- courting habits, but he was definitely sure that the mother watching over the courting pair was _not_ part of the courting ritual.

Harry looked at him with curiosity shining in his eyes, the vivid green capturing Tom's dark red ones. It was such a rare shade to see on one's irises that it was slightly surreal. Harry was small, smaller than he thought should be healthy for a second year. His fingers on his back could trace his ribs no problem, even through the layers of clothing. Legs that straddled his felt right, yet not right enough. Yet. But it was a comfortable position for Harry, mostly, that made him want to keep him there.

But time was against them, and he they had to separate before the old coot would notice their disappearance.

"Harry," Tom said softly, his hands travelling up to his face so that he could cup those soft, soft cheeks. It occurred to him that at his age, there was supposed to be a few percent of baby fat, but it wasn't present, and he knew why... Only starvation could do that on someone, the extreme type of it at least. "We need to go," he said reluctantly. Harry clutched at his robes, twisting it in his hands as if he didn't want him to go.

"Why?" his voice trembled, and he sounded so young, so vulnerable... "Are-are you gonna leave me?" Eyes shone with oncoming tears, and Tom was quick to shush him.

"Just for now, Harry. No one should know I'm alive," he explained. "Imagine what would happen if everyone's favourite Dark Lord is now alive and kicking?"

"But... you promised that you'll save me..." he mumbled softly, looking at Tom's chest than his eyes. Tom remedied that by tilting his chin upwards so that their eyes would meet, but Harry averted his a second later.

"And I will," Tom said, conviction in his voice. "But there are some things that I need to do first before I could do so." Harry looked downtrodden, but nodded nonetheless. A peck on his lips made him look back up at Tom, and the older wizard smiled at him. "Don't worry, I've got a plan."

Harry just smiled.

* * *

Dumbledore jovially walked down the hall, making obnoxiously loud sucking noises on his lemon drop. He'd been away for almost most of the year, only appearing when it was necessary, but it was worth it, in his mind. He could finally track down Remus Lupin because he knew that Lockheart would be retiring before the year even ends. Oh, he knew about him, alright, about all the _Obliviates_ and how his stories weren't even his, but the children wouldn't need to know that. He had a reputation to keep, and so did the Headmaster.

But Lupin on the other hand...

Yes, yes, everything was perfect...

* * *

"Heya, mate!" Ron said happily, watching Harry getting crushed by Hermione's hug with a laugh. "Too bad you couldn't come with us for Christmas..."

"Here, Harry, my Christmas gift for you," Hermione cut him off, eager for her first friend to open the gift she was _sure_ he'd love. Knowing Hermione, everyone could guess what the gift was.

"Thanks 'Mione!" Harry tried not to tear up. Receiving gifts was something he still couldn't get used to, so he didn't know how to respond. But still, to be remembered like that touched him. Ron just pouted before grinning once more.

"Here Harry," Ron said, handing him a few shrunken boxes from his robes. "This one's from Mum, this one's from Dad, this one's from Bill..." he listed off, making Hermione snicker at the overwhelmed expression Harry had on his face. "... and this one's from me!" he finished with his chest puffing.

"Thank you," he said with a smile. Oh, he wished that he'd gotten them something, but he didn't have the time to go out and search for a proper gift for them.

"Fred and George said that they'd give theirs to you at a more... private setting?" he ended the statement with a question before shaking his head. "I'll bet they'd be trying to prank you for a gift," he chuckled. Harry snickered along with him while Hermione huffed at the two, muttering something that suspiciously sounded like 'Boys...' before smiling.

"Oh, and Ginny wanted to talk to you alone once she gets here," she said, her tone a tad bit mischievous. Harry gulped, he didn't know why but he had a cold shiver run down his spine.

"You're not teaming up with her to play a prank on me too, are you?" Harry asked slightly fearfully. He remembered the looks he'd gotten for the past year from her and it was unnerving, to say the least.

"What makes you say that?" Hermione asked innocently, he eyes twinkling with anything but. Harry just sighed, resigned to getting two pranks from both the twins and the two girls. He had the sudden urge to talk to Luna...or Tom. Oh, he missed Tom, so, so bad. They spent far too less time together and he didn't like it one bit. He wished that he could've had more time before he had to go, but seems like, no one would want to stay with a freak like him...

"-rry, Harry!" Ron's voice pulled him out of his dark thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"What's wrong? Are you ill?" Hermione asked, concern in her voice evident to him.

"Just lost in thought," he said with a tight smile. Ron whistled.

"Looks like you could've hurt yourself by doing that," he said jokingly, in which Harry punched his arm for when he laughed.

"Come on, I haven't done my Potions essay and I don't wanna risk Snape's wrath again," Harry said with a smile, to which Hermione beamed and Ron groaned.

"Bloody hell, Harry, since when do you care about the greasy git's homework?"

"Ron!" she scolded. "He's still a teacher, so don't bad talk him!"

"What? It's true," he grumbled in return.

"Even _if_ it's true!" she huffed, crossing her arms across her chest with a glare. Ron looked properly admonished and she nodded. "Good, now that you understand!" Harry giggled, earning himself twin confused looks. "What is it, Harry?"

"No, I mean..." he took a second to calm himself. "You... acknowledged that he's actually a greasy git." She looked thoughtful for a moment before paling.

"Don't make such a fuss over it, 'Mione," Ron grinned, patting her back. "Come on, let's go do our essays!"

* * *

Ginny watched her big brother and her Intended, along with Hermione Granger walking to an empty table in the library, where she ordered the two to find some book they'd need to do their essay while she guarded their belongings. She silently made her way to where her Harry was, her brown eyed dark and gleaming. She'd finally, finally give him her gift...

"Harry?" she called softly, and the boy in front of her turned around. They were of the same height, so she didn't have to go through the trouble of looking up as she did most guys.

"Hi, Ginny," Harry smiled, and she felt her determination rise. "What's up?"

"Can we..." she looked away and then glanced back at him. "Can we talk? Privately?"

"Um sure, I'll go tell 'Mione first, okay?" he said with confusion clear on his face. When he disappeared around the corner of a bookshelf, she internally whooped, grinning maliciously as the first steps of her plan succeeded. Next will be...

The two entered an empty classroom, Harry looking around while Ginny cast particularly powerful silencing charms and locking charms, and also warding the door against eavesdroppers, all spells she found in the library and practiced every night ever since she'd gotten Tom's diary.

"Why did you lock the door?" Harry asked, his tone a little bit guarded, his body tense. Ginny smiled a shy smile at him.

"I... I didn't want us to be disturbed," she said, her words for some reason only making her Harry more tense. She silently cursed herself for the ambiguous wording and gave him an even bigger smile. "I wanted to give you my gift," she handed him a silver pendant, inlaid with opal and sapphire stones infused with pure magic. It strengthened the power of her mind-control charm, and with her request, a cloaking charm as well, so that the spells within the jewelry wouldn't be found out by the strongest witches. No, she didn't want anyone knowing that her Harry was bewitched to love her...

"It's beautiful, Ginny, but..." Harry said, his face an open wonder. "But this looks so expensive, I can't take this!"

"It's alright, Harry," she reassured. "I found this in the Burrow's attic and thought that this would look good on you," a lie, but she smiled anyways. She was glad that she didn't stutter through her lie.

"Thank you Ginny," he said, happily putting it on just as she expected. Considering how he'd always put on her Mum's jumper immediately every time he got it, she knew he'd do it with her present. "I'm sorry for not having anything to give you in return," he said sadly.

"No worries," she grinned. "All I want is for you to love me," she said, activating the controlling spell.

"Huh? But I already love you, Ginny," he said with a tilt of his head.

"No, I mean love-love me, not love like a sister-love me," she shook her head, inwardly frowning. Why wasn't it working?

Her Harry's eyes widened in surprise and apprehension. "I'm afraid I don't understand...?" Her eyes flashed.

"I mean love me, adore me, talk about me, worship me!" she snarled. Harry's eyes suddenly became glazed, and she knew it worked. "Love me," she whispered, but then his eyes cleared again. She narrowed her eyes.

"Ginny, what did you just--" his alarm was cut off when she ordered, "Adore me." His eyes glazed over again, and there was a strange smile on his face.

"Adore me and worship me. Talk about me all the time, but be mindful to be like your usual self around others," she ordered with a purr, and the strange smile on his face brightened.

"Yes, Ginny," he said cheerfully. Cancelling all her charms, she told Harry to go back to his friends and act like he usually would, and he did, with the difference that he had that glazed look to his eyes. Oh well, she thought, no one's gonna find out anyway. Her grin as she walked out of the classroom was nearly feral with unadulterated glee.

* * *

"Done with your talk?" Hermione asked with a grin. Harry nodded dazedly, his eyes glassy as if he'd been _Imperio_ ed. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Something happened, but it seems like Harry wouldn't talk about it. Catching a silver glint around his neck, her eyes widened. "Is that a present from Ginny?" she asked excitedly. It was a beautiful piece of jewelry and she was slightly envious that Harry had it. It looked as if it was created especially for him.

Harry's expression brightened, and he nodded vigorously. "Yep! She gave it to me! Isn't it pretty?" he said with a dazed smile.

 _'Maybe he's just delirious with happiness? What with receiving many gifts today?'_ she thought with a smile. If that's so, then she's happy for him.

* * *

Ron was getting sick of Harry. If he hears one more word about Ginny from his mouth... he was positive that he will be sick. He didn't know what had gotten into his best mate's head, but it was driving him nuts! He didn't know where this sudden adoration to his sister came from, but it was disturbing, to say the least. This wasn't the Harry he knew, this was... someone else.

He didn't even blink when his whole body became green and red and gold, and he practically became a human Christmas tree, thanks to the twins' prank. Something was definitely wrong here... but he didn't know what.

"Have you noticed?"

"He did, of course-"

"-he did!"

"That's our-"

"-lil bro!" the twins finished together, startling Ron who was walking down the hallway alone. He was so very tired of Harry's talk about Ginny...

"Fred! George!" Ron grumbled.

"Well, well, well..."

"Our ickle Ronniekins..."

"Being very sharp..."

"Observant..."

"Caring..."

"Annoyingly..."

"Adorable!" they grinned at a red-faced Ron.

"Stop that! You're embarrassing me!" he said angrily, looking around to check whether or not there were others watching. Turns out, they were in a deserted hallway, in which he was thankful for.

"Ah-ah," Fred shook his head. "That's beside the point."

When George nodded, Ron knew that their talk was about to turn into a serious discussion. "You also noticed, didn't you?"

"Of course we did," George looked scandalized.

"You think we're not observant enough?" Fred raised an eyebrow in a manner that reminded him of a certain Potions Master.

"You've got a long way to learn, little brother," George smirked. Then the smirk disappeared moments later when he and his twin dragged Ron into a hidden alcove. "What do you think happened?" he asked seriously after casting a silencing spell along with Fred's privacy charm.

"I don't know," Ron said in a thoughtful tone. "But I think it has something to do with a present he'd received."

"A present?"

"Which one?"

Ron shook his head to both his brother's questions. "I don't know. I mean, he's like the bloody Boy-Who-Lived, everyone in the whole Wizarding World could've given him a gift or two. But then again, most of his gifts and mail is screened by the Headmaster himself, so presents would have to be given by that person themselves..." he trailed off.

"Oh, now that you mention it, there were some people who gave him a few presents," Fred said and George confirmed.

"Maybe one of them is bewitched?" George suggested.

"Could be, we can't be too sure, now can we?" Fred nodded to his twin brother. "Ron, if you find something on Harry's person, then tell us immediately. We can't be too sure if his bewitched present would be harmless or would retaliate if taken." His tone commanded him to comply, and Ron nodded. He knew how enchanted items, no matter what the enchantment, could and would retaliate in some way. Seeing Bill in the hospital countless times due to a curse's backlash had taught them all that lesson.

"Now that that's settled, let's get Ronniekins here back to class," George smiled and Ron paled drastically. He was supposed to be in Double Potions right now and being late for a Gryffindor was... Oh, he was ultimately screwed.

* * *

Days passed as if in a daze, and yet there was no letter nor mail from Tom. He wondered where Tom was, how he was doing, when they'll meet each other again... probably never. Summer was approaching and he dreaded what would happen come Summer. Ron and Hermione were spending less and less time with him, and he didn't know why. He hadn't seen Luna since... well, since last year, honestly. Fred and George were their usual selves, and for some reason, Lee Jordan kept looking at him with a strange look in his eyes. More like, everyone's been looking at him strangely since a few weeks after the hols ended.

He knew that look. It was the looks he got when people found out that he's an abnormal freak. Maybe that's why they didn't want to come close to him? Why Ron and 'Mione's been spending less and less time with him? He felt so small and all alone, and his heart ached for Tom. The necklace Ginny gave him was a warm presence on his neck, and he couldn't stop thinking about her.

About her warm eyes... red, flowing hair... her smiles... Oh, he was obsessed with her, but his heart still aches for Tom. Oh, how he missed him... On the other hand, he was also thinking about Ginny. He was very confused, his feelings confuse him, but he trusted his heart more than his head since it had always kept him safe before. The memory of dark, red eyes, looking right into his very soul and deep, velvet voice that sent shivers down his spine made him long even more for Tom.

But will he come save him from his own relatives? Does he even know where he stayed in the summer? How was he supposed to save him from them if he didn't know?

Maybe Ginny could save him also? Like the twins saving him back when Dobby had gotten him in trouble for trying to keep him from coming back to Hogwarts? But she was underage, just like him, so she wouldn't be his saving grace this time around...

Or maybe none of them would come this year, just like the years before? He'd asked the Headmaster, but he claimed that he was just overreacting... It hurt him to not be believed, but maybe the Headmaster was right? That he was just overreacting and everything they did to him, he deserved it because he was a freak? An incorrigible demon sent from hell, and was given the grace of getting taken care of because of his loving relatives? He knew that he was supposed to be drowned the moment Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia found him, he was a good-for-nothing and a waste of space, a freak who's a liar and a monster even among the Wizarding people...

During the whole train ride, he was silent, and Ron and Hermione kept to themselves, and he was altogether ignored. No one looked at him anymore, and he knew he deserved it. He was ugly and abnormal, and he deserved nothing less.

"Boy!"

Dull green eyes looked up and saw his uncle, face dangerously red and angry.

"Hurry up or I'll leave you!"

Harry nodded and quickly put his trunk into the back of the car, climbing in and was just in time before his uncle hit the gas pedal. The way back to Privet Drive was quiet, and Vernon stopped once to get some food, all of which he ate right in front of the dull boy. Vernon got out of the car and went straight into the house, not waiting for Harry to get his trunk out and slowly followed him.

"Get in there, boy!" his uncle commanded and Harry complied, putting Hedwig's cage on the ratty table placed in his otherwise bare room. Dust was thick in the air, and he coughed slightly when his uncle slammed the door shut, the wind that came from the force of it sending the dust flying. His window was still barred, and from the dim light form outside, he could make out his thin blanket and worn mattress that served as a bed.

He could hear his uncle putting on all four locks on the door and walk away, his heavy steps resonating through the entire floor. He could imagine that if he were still in his cupboard, then the dust would fall right onto him because of it. Sitting on his bed, he pulled out the pendant from Ginny and stared at the opal and sapphire, his mind filling with Ginny.

Will she also berate him? Will she look at him and see the abomination Harry Potter truly was? Or will she see something else? He adored her, really, she was a great little sister, she still is, but does she look at him as a good big brother? What about Tom? Will he rescue him? Will he save him? He did promise after all...

He's supposed to be the one to love him, after all.

His soulmate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy that was one depressing chapter...? What do you think? Was it? I think it was. Do we think alike? Why are we thinking? I think I love sleeping. I do love sleeping. Umm, what are we talking about again? ("`m`)
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	9. Snape Sees

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What the heck, me? What's with the title?? Nah, sorry guys, I'm at a title shortage so like yeah. I feel like I'd just awakened many people's dormant bloodlust within them with the previous chapter O.o
> 
> Oh, and bravo, CKRiddle! You guessed correctly~ *ehm, Now let's get this next one up and about, shall we? Enjoy~

It was a normal, hot summer morning, where his beautiful, loving wife was making mashed potatoes with gravy, scrambled eggs, bacon, and a delicious-smelling pancakes. Hmm.... Pancakes.... His wife makes the best pancakes, what with the additional dark chocolate. He didn't want to admit, though, that the freak's pancake tasted better, it was an unspoken law that whatever that boy makes will be disgusting to them.

Well, all the more reason to beat him up over it. Smiling, he turned on the telly, opening the news before Dudley comes down. He loved his Duddikins, he does, but sometimes, watching news like a normal adult was necessary to make the morning normal before his son would change it into a cartoon channel.

"Vernon, food's ready," Petunia called in her melodic voice. Oh, how he loved it when she calls him like that... He knew exactly what he wanted to do tonight, but first he needed to go to work, the last day before Summer hols. "Dudley!" she called, and his son would come down, excitement on his face lighting up the room. In his chest, pride blossomed, to see his son, _his normal, not freakish son_ so happy like that made him know what he lived for.

After a kiss goodbye, he went off to work. Seeing his car, he frowned when he saw a smudge on the back side of it. Probably mud, but he grinned, knowing that he had something to blame the freak for. But for now he was almost late to work, so he hurriedly got into his car and drove off, in his mind imagining what he could do to that small, dull, freakish boy. Yes, yes, his normal day is _perfect..._

* * *

Harry was just looking at nothing in particular, not thinking about anything. His mind was blank, and all he could think about was Ginny and Tom, on what they'd think about him, will they rescue him, what will they do once they did rescue an abomination like him? He wasn't even worth saving... His fingers were playing with the pendant Ginny gifted him with. Will it be his last present he'll ever receive in his life?

Well, it was fun while it lasted...

He looked out through the window and saw that it was noon. But then again, summers usually had longer daytime and shorter nighttime, so it could very well be 7 PM. It didn't register to him that it'd been days since he'd properly slept, or eaten. The locks on the door was only open so that he could go out to do chores or to the loo, not that he needed to go much these days.

The beatings his uncle gave him became progressively harsher and harder on his body, and he was afraid that overtime, it'd become too much for him.

_But would it be so bad if it became so?_

Maybe... maybe that way the world would become so, so much better... But wouldn't Tom be sad for his death? He felt oddly touched by the thought and an upward twitch of his mouth was the first sign of a smile he'd had for days, maybe weeks. He didn't know how much time had passed since he'd got here. Usually he'd count the days until he could go back to Hogwarts, to see his friends again and have an overall good time. But... will they still see him as a friend of theirs...?

His train of thoughts was halted when the door suddenly opened with such a force that he knew would've shaken the whole house.

"BOY!" his uncle bellowed, making Harry flinch. "You didn't properly wash the car, did you, freak?! And after all we did to-" Beady eyes landed on the glinting silver pendant, hung around his neck. "What's a freak like you doing with such a jewelry?? Did you steal from my wife, boy?!"

Harry shook his head, stuttering. "N-no, sir--"

"LIAR!" His uncle stepped inside the room and loomed over him, face going from red to purple in anger. "You stole from my wife, you ungrateful freak!" The first hit sent him flying across the room, the back of his head colliding with the open door. Stars immediately exploded in his vision, and he was far too dazed to try and run from the next hits. He could hear wet snaps of his bones getting broken, the pounding in his head adding to his dizziness. Once his uncle was done, his grubby hand reached for the pendant, and he pulled it _hard._ His eyes widened in horror as the clink of chains breaking reached his ears, the glint of his present, possibly his last present, taken away from him.

The pain following that was worse that getting his ribs broken, getting his lungs punctured by a bone or two. Worse than that time in the diary when he suddenly felt that painful headache. He vaguely heard his uncle screaming, followed by his aunt's and his cousin's. Before everything even came close to settling, the usually comforting darkness claimed him.

But that darkness didn't feel comforting at all now.

* * *

Severus stepped out of the green flames into his house, dusty, creaky, and rotting house. Spinner's End. He didn't know why his Lord would want to stay here rather than the huge and lavish manor of the Malfoy's. Then again, his plan this time involved him keeping a low profile. Well, it was ingenious of him also, and very strategic. He could floo from Hogwarts straight to his house, as is the rule for staff. They could freely commute between school and home if they so wished, but they wouldn't put it past Dumbledore to put a monitoring charm on everyone's floo, so he tried to time it right whenever he needed to see his Lord.

Once the green flames settled, the room he was in was cast into darkness, and Severus looked around. He could make out a humanoid form somewhere to his right, but just to be sure, he used a spell to light up the room. His Lord was smirking at him with a triumphant smirk, dark red scales, almost black, adorned one side of his neck, and his dark red eyes gleamed from the light he'd cast into the room. Getting to his knees, he murmured, "My Lord."

He remembered when this sudden inheritance came, after saying their farewells to Potter, his Lord and he went to Spinner's End via Apparition. When they touched the ground, his Lord's eyes widened and sweat started to trickle down his face. Severus had ushered him into his house before he could collapse, and collapse he did. He went to sleep for 2 weeks straight, and when he opened his eyes, he was just the same as ever, asking how long he was asleep and demanding him to prepare for a bath.

After that he needed to teach the dunderheads that reside within a school called Hogwarts.

When he came back, he saw a new and improved Dark Lord smiling, a fang peeking out from the corner of his mouth. Scales adorned his neck and arms, and his hair was longer, tied back and settled over the nape of his neck. His dark red eyes seemed hypnotising, and had slits for pupils like a snake's. Or a cat's.

"Severus," he purred then, and the Potions Master could see a forked tongue move in that mouth. Only then did he realize that he was staring. Now that he was more or less used to his new look, he didn't do something as idiotic as stare at him, let alone droo--

He coughed to clear his throat.

"You called me, my Lord?"

"Yes," he said shortly, dragging his 's' like a hiss. "I feel that I need to see Harry, and I want to know where his relative's dwellings are."

Dwellings? It was almost funny that someone like him would say 'dwellings' instead of 'residence' or something. "I'm afraid that I've been sworn to secrecy, my Lord," he said. "But might I suggest you use your bond between him and you?"

"What bond?" Tom asked, his eyes narrowing. He could imagine what he was thinking, that he hadn't done anything more than kiss the Boy-Who-Lived, but Severus knew that it was enough to form a tentative, fragile bond at the very least. Knowing the two powerful wizards, he knew something more could've formed between them, but decided that it was too disturbing to think about.

To think his Lord would choose Harry Potter of all people...!

Tom hummed in thought and nodded. "Point."

Then he was gone. But even so, Severus was worried about the one he was supposed to protect. After all, the Dark Lord before was unpredictable, who could say indefinitely that this new and improved version was any better? Standing up, he spun in place and followed his Lord to number 4 Privet Drive. He hated the similar houses, lined up all so boringly along the street, the same houses, same gardens, same garages... same, same.

But number 4 caught his eye, not because of the lights, mind you, but because there were loud noises as if things were breaking, being thrown around, and more or less getting trashed. Now _that_ was something interesting to see in this boring neighborhood. But it could possibly mean that his Lord was trashing the house and thus, endangering Potter's life, so he moved towards the house, his wide strides closing the distance quickly.

The door suddenly opened, revealing two panicked people, a horse-like woman and a walrus of a child, screaming bloody murder. Inside, everything was trashed, like he thought. Casting a protective charm over himself, so as to not get hit by a stray item that could possibly injure him fatally, he looked through the first floor, stopping in his tracks when he arrived at the second. There was a barrier on the steps, and the only one he could see was inside was the Dark Lord himself, face dark and angry, crouching down.

Severus quickly dismantled the barrier and hurried to the open door--

\--that had a cat flap on it. At first he thought that maybe the Dursleys had a cat, but he knew for a fact that Petunia is allergic to cats. Then he noticed the locks, all different kind of locks, installed on the door, designed to only be able to open it from the outside. Taking a step closer, he could see a pale, bruised, passed out boy on the floor near the door. He was so small and skinny, he couldn't be Harry Potter, he was far too different, what with the many scars that adorned his body, his baggy clothes ripped off from the beating he could imagine him being subjected to.

Then he saw the red, bleeding lightning bolt on his forehead and knew, just knew, that that was Harry Bloody Potter. It had to be. No one else had the same scar. No one.

"Severus," his Lord said, his voice dangerously low and silky, eyes trained into whatever was in the room, hand carded through Potter's hair. "Take him to your place."

"My Lord...?"

"Be careful with him," he said, entering the room after passing the lightweight--too light for a boy his age and height!--onto him. _"Rennervate."_

As Severus walked away, he couldn't help but be shocked at the small boy, breathing ragged, and face far too pale and gaunt, and his whole body littered with scars.

"YOU! You're one of those freaks too, aren't you?!" Petunia snarled at him. "Where's my husband?!" Severus gave her a level stare.

"He's getting what he deserved," he said smoothly, grinning at the well-timed scream. "And what you deserve too."

Pale and shaken, she shook and he could see the moment fear turn to rage. When he Apparated, the last thing he heard were her uncle's screams and her own shout of, "YOU FREAK--"

He tried not to jostle his cargo too much, since he didn't know what damage the small boy had suffered before everything happened. He gently placed the small pale boy on the bed his Lord used, seeing as it's the only bed that was comfortable to sleep in in the house. He cast a complex diagnosis charm and waited as the first ailments Potter had suffered was written in paper.

_**1980** _

_Mild rash_

_Fever_

_Irritated throat_

_Stomachache_

Stuff babies suffered, and he felt oddly satisfied that as a child, even Potter suffered them. But as years passed, the list became longer and longer, and he was shocked and horrified at the ailments the boy had.

_Ruptured spleen_

_Punctured lungs_

_Broken finger bones_

_Malnutrition_

_Food poisoning_

_Hay fever_

And so on.

He was surprised that Potter survived that long with everything he'd suffered. He'd need to remedy many of them, but first...

"How the hell are you surviving a lung failure and severe head trauma at a time like this, Potter," he mumbled as he summoned the potions that he needed to fix the more fatal stuff. He did many complicated spells, and when the Dark Lord came back, he was still trying to fix a broken skull. He was getting exhausted, and his Lord had helped him heal a few more things before there was nothing else that they could do to help the unconscious boy.

Severus sat down with a sigh, his mind trying to make sense of things. Everything he'd had been led to believe all these years had been a lie--Harry Potter living the life of a prince, pampered and worshipped and would eventually turn into his late father, always getting out of trouble oh, so easily, defying all logic and rules... The only true thing he knew was true was the last part; defying all logic and rules, even the rules of nature. Surviving the Killing Curse was one thing.

Glancing upwards when he heard a shuffle, Severus knew that once again the boy had defied another logic; capturing the Dark Lord's mythical heart was another.

"You are dismissed," his Lord said, worried eyes on the boy, in his hand he clenched the diagnosis parchment. Severus didn't need to be told twice, he got up quickly and took a few items from his personal lab, planning to brew a few dangerous, almost illegal potions that could help save the boy, Potter--no, Harry.

He couldn't see him as his father after everything, not anymore.

* * *

He'd been having this odd feeling, ever since he'd woken up from his slumber. His first thought was Harry; his mate. He'd viewed him as someone he'd love, what with the soul-bond, and his unexpected Inheritance intensified the feeling. He'd wondered what he was doing and if he was okay, but he had other things to settle first. He'd gone to the ministry and forged a past for himself; a wizard that had been homeschooled due to his parents not wanting him to go to school, far away from home. He never attended Hogwarts, but he was very sure that he would pass both OWLs and NEWTs with flying colours. The minister didn't believe him at first, but then he proceeded to take the Spring tests and, as he'd predicted, he passed with flying colours, his grades surpassing his own from almost half a decade ago.

He'd then applied for a position in the ministry, as someone who could change the laws, create them, and eventually become someone who will change the Wizarding World through subtler means. But Fudge had different plans for him, and he'd been told to get a Defense Mastery from Hogwarts' DADA teacher, the new one. To be honest, the minister himself just wanted to keep an eye on the school from the inside, but the Headmaster knew of almost all of the ministry workers and he couldn't risk sending someone so easily found.

A new face was exactly what he needed.

On the bright side, he could at the very least watch over Harry in his school days.

He then visited Gringotts, doing what he should've done years before; claim his inheritance. He was surprised that the Riddles actually had a magical family, a Lord once, even, but fell out of the Wizarding society due to their many enemies within many families. After that the ones descended from the line were squibs who hated magic and isolated themselves in the muggle world, in a muggle village. Huh, who knew? And to top it off, since the last few generations or so hadn't touched the wealth accumulated in his vaults, he was very wealthy, but not as wealthy as the Blacks or Malfoys, but wealthy enough.

To top it off, the Gaunt family branch line he'd come from were exiles of the Wizarding World, and was supposed to come back after two decades, but by the time the original exiles were dead, the line had fallen into what one would call a living hell, and had caused the deterioration of the family sanity, almost like the Blacks and their Black Madness. The main branch of the Gaunt family had all mysteriously contracted dragon pox a few generations ago, and they all died, leaving Tom to be the sole heir to their wealth.

Of course, this revelation had pleased the goblins immensely since his then unclaimed inheritance had been frozen for many years and no one did anything about it since no one knew of their existence anymore.

Within the depths of the Gaunt family vaults, he'd also found a book on magical inheritances, and a list of families who had recorded all sorts of magical inheritance, Parseltongue being one of them, creature inheritance being another. Salazar's parents had been busy, what with experimenting on the young basilisk and procreating Salazar himself, and later had a whole descendant line of basilisk-human hybrid.

It was a little bit disturbing, to find his many-times-great grandmother was actually Jamila herself.

He hadn't read the rest of the book, and he'd planned on doing that at first, but then other things started to come up, with him talking to this year's DADA teacher and finding out that it was Remus Lupin, a werewolf. After assuring him that he didn't mind about his condition, they'd agreed that Tom would be observing, even helping the students in his class as professor assistant for his mastery, and teaching when it was a full moon night, and at most two nights after.

And then there was the news of Sirius Black's escape, and he'd worried for Harry. That was why he'd decided to rescue him sooner than he planned. To see that if he was late for even one more hour in his rescue plan, Harry would be dead was shocking.

As he stared at the unconscious boy in front of him, he heard a few sounds from within Severus' house before the floo flared to life, signalling his departure. One look at the diagnosis parchment had told him all that he needed to do before Harry's make a full recovery, at least physically.

He pulled out a pendant from inside his robe pocket, admiring the beauty of the silver inlaid with opal and sapphire. The one whom had designed it had a great taste to jewelry, probably a girl or a woman with high fashion sense. He'd picked it up from Harry's fat muggle uncle, who cursed him with his obnoxiously loud voice before Tom cursed him back, literally. It irked him that the muggle had accused Harry of stealing his wife's jewelry--he wasn't too interested in jewelry to even think about that. It could be a gift from one of his female friends, not Granger though. He could tell at least that much. She was too much of a bookworm than a girl, much less a woman.

But there were many girls in this world and even more people who would love to give such an expensive-looking gift to Harry. He was a tad bit irked and jealous, of Harry wearing something that was given from another person, but that didn't bother him--not really.

What truly disturbed him was the magic he'd felt, woven into the gem's natural magic, the kind of magic he knew all too well since he'd been using it so much more as a wraith. Mind magic. His Harry had been enchanted by a mere pendant, and it was so subtle he didn't know whether to applaud for whoever made it, or torture them for giving it to his Intended.

And that was where his worry started.

Looking at the state of the necklace, with its chains broken and the state of Harry's neck, where the back of it seemed red and imprinted with the chain's pattern, it didn't take a genius to conclude that the item was harshly ripped off of the boy's neck. Which also means that the enchantment had been forcefully ripped off of him, and that spelled trouble. No, he was more worried about the state of Harry's mind. It wouldn't be weird if his mind was a little bit more... different than it was before.

He wanted retribution, he wanted whoever placed him under such enchantments to feel his wrath. But right now it wouldn't be the best course of action. Harry needed him, now more than ever. He hoped that his mind didn't break from something like this, his muggle uncle had tried to break him, and he didn't like the thought of him succeeding just by ripping a pendant off of him. Though he didn't like him beating up Harry, he hadn't succeeded in such a thing as breaking Harry.

No, that would be too easy for that scum of a muggle, he thought darkly. He had time, and he would use it to his advantage. His mind began plotting for revenge, and one look at Harry's face--the face that had showed his weight loss even though he was underweight before summer and was even more so--was enough to fuel his rage. No, he will drag his muggle relative's torture so much that they'd beg him to kill them.

He knew that Harry disliked killing, but he _will_ have his revenge.

Giving Harry a kiss on his lips, Tom walked to the door. He had a plan to set in motion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm, not yet the bloodbath you all wanted, but close enough. I didn't want to write too much detail on the abuse Harry was receiving, because I thought it wasn't really important. Not really. Just know that he did receive some sort of 'punishment' from his uncle for having something fancy... Also, Tom's family history was complicated DX I don't have enough brains to do much but a rough sketch of it... But well, the plot thing is now evolving... I'd planned something far simpler than this, but then again, when did I start to plan?
> 
> I'll try to make Tom's family history clearer, later maybe, but it's not really something that needs to be in the story, except to know where his sudden inheritance came from. And also, this is not beta'ed like always, and I hope I made this chapter clear enough (I've been doing this before bed and early morning so my mind's still too sleep-addled to think much) and if you have stuff to say, just say it in the comments--oh, and kudos and comments are always appreciated! I don't think I've said this before. Okay, now I'm babbling.
> 
> In conclusion... what do you think?
> 
> \---- To be continued --
> 
> P.S. I don't know what Hay Fever really does, just that the Mogekos in Mogeko Castle were really afraid of it.
> 
> 6/13/2017 I just realized the mistake I made by writing 'punctured ribs'...


	10. Saving Grace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title is... the one thing I hope for this semester... My saving grace... coz nothing is gonna help me if I fail... :( Or at least I think so. Anyways, on to the next chapter!
> 
> (and wow, 26k+ words already... and more or less 14k (or is it 15k now?) hits...! XD Thank you everyone, I hope you enjoy this chapter also!)

It was a surprise for the Headmaster of Hogwarts when the new DADA professor, Remus Lupin, and minister Fudge himself came to visit one summer night. "Cornelius! Remus! What a surprise!" And that wasn't a lie.

"Headmaster," Lupin nodded with a smile.

"Albus," Fudge said heartily.

"Lemon drop?" he offered, to which both visitors declined. "What brings you here?" he asked after the three got comfortable.

"Ah, I have a proposition for you," Fudge said seriously.

"What will it be?"

"So you see, the ministry had just employed a very special, talented young man, but he needed to get a mastery first before we officially employ him," Fudge nodded to Lupin, who smiled shyly.

"He requested for me to take him into a defense mastery, seeing that I have one myself." Dumbledore nodded, seeing where this was going.

"And you want him to assist you in this year's teaching, I assume?" he asked, looking from above the rim of his half moon glasses. Lupin nodded. "Well, I'll need to check on his background, and--"

"You wouldn't find much about him, I've tried," Fudge said with a slight grumble. "He's been homeschooled in the muggle world with his magical family. His guardians had recently died, and he had just taken his OWLs and NEWTs a few months ago. All we know is that he'd just turned 20 last January and that he's especially talented. His family was exiled a few generations ago and is not well-known in just about anywhere."

"Ah, but he is far too talented to just pass up?" Fudge usually wasn't one to see one for their talents, but it seems like this young man was an exception. As Fudge nodded, Dumbledore nodded jovially, in his mind, a plan evolving into something more, far more... A plan to manipulate such a strong ally... He didn't know whether or not it would be too much for him to chew, but if worse comes to worst, he'll have a backup plan... yes. If the best case scenario comes, though...

"I understand, I shall prepare a separate room for him," Dumbledore nodded.

"Thank you, Albus," Lupin said with a smile. He couldn't believe the Headmaster's kind heart, what with his other mission, to find Sirius Black... After all these years, too, he didn't know what had motivated him to actually escape Azkaban. And because of that mission, he'd also given the werewolf a guest room. Well, two guestrooms, in hopes that he could spend some time with Harry. He wasn't his godson, but he was his cub.

And Pack is the most valuable thing to him, and cubs are revered in one. His inner wolf had howled in joy when Dumbledore had sought him out, and he intended to follow his instincts this time.

"On another note, I might as well check on this apprentice's background," Dumbledore said, and Fudge sputtered and was about to say something when Dumbledore stopped him. "One can't be too careful, now can we?" Fudge understood the implications; when one is a little bit _too_ unknown, no one would be able to know exactly what to expect. So when Dumbledore asked for his name, he gave it to him readily.

"His name's Thomas Eoin Marvolo."

* * *

Sirius Black was horrified...

... which is to put it lightly.

He knew how Voldemort smelled, his scent had been deeply ingrained in his mind the day the Potters died and Harry had vanquished him as a baby. He'd come to their safe house to find Hagrid taking baby Harry away, telling him that he will take Harry to Hogwarts so that the Headmaster would be able to check whether he was alright or not.

Which allowed him to make the decision to go and chase after Peter Pettigrew and leave Harry in the capable hands of Dumbledore. He'd planned on taking Harry to his and Remus' place after he was done with Peter but he didn't expect to get himself incarcerated. He'd been trying to get out of it since, and he'd found the perfect time to get out years ago. Now finding Harry was the difficult part.

The guards in Azkaban only checked the prisoners once every few years, and the dementors couldn't care less who they're guarding as long as they get souls to eat once every decade or so. Only few people know of this fact, and all of them were in the ministry. He was an Auror, so it was natural that he knew about that fact. And so he timed it so that he could escape and not be found out until it was far too late.

All that time in Azkaban, he was filled with regrets, thinking on many what-ifs, thinking about Harry. What will he be like? Look like? Did he look like James, with Lily's eyes, just like when he was a mere baby? What kind of life was he leading? A happy one? Is he pranking Slytherins already? Thoughts like that fueled his desire to escape, and escape he did.

But escaping had its own effects and he needed a few months to recuperate enough so that he could have enough energy to find Harry. In the mean time, he had acquired a wand, stolen from yet another criminal who was about to do bad things to him due to him being a Grimm... or so that wizard thought. Not that he minded much, when he'd ripped off flesh from his limbs and watched with glee when the blood drained out of that person.

It had taken him years to find Harry, and it was mere coincidence when he found King's Cross. He then followed the car, which he lost sight of after a while, but then kept on searching the vicinity. He'd finally found where Harry was staying, the scent in the air had told him so, when he saw him, in Snivellus' arms. He wanted to snarl at him, tell him to get his dirty hands off of his godson, but was too busy watching in satisfaction as the Marauder's archenemy had to dodge Harry's accidental magic which was making things fly.

He felt pride rise up from deep within his heart to see the baby he'd held years ago, which felt like only yesterday to him, fighting against Snivellus with such raw power. It was satisfying to see.

Until he smelled _him._

Now he knew where they were taking his godson.

As Snivellus Apparated, he cast a Tracking Spell and followed it, expecting to see the huge and lavish Malfoy Manor. Why else would the slimy git take Harry? Of course he was about to bring him to the Dark Lord! And where else would the Dark Lord be hiding, other than behind the strong wards of Malfoy Manor, surrounded by wealth and lavishness, and his own minions, groveling at his feet and at his beck and call?

But no, the place he'd tracked him to wasn't Malfoy Manor. It was a deserted street, where everywhere he saw was abandoned houses. It was eerily quiet, but when he transformed back into a Grimm, he could smell the scent of baked goods somewhere far away. He was relieved, at the very least there were people, close enough that his nose could scent their signs of living.

He then proceeded to walked around the house that smelled so much like Snivellus that he was ready to gag, looking for an opening that could let him in where he'd least expect him to. But then he could smell a little bit of the Dark Lord's smell and also Harry's smell. He didn't like it! He could also smell the scent of blood somewhere and immediately thought that it was because of Snivellus.

Yes, yes, of course, he was a slimy snake and a Death Eater scum to boot! He must've killed everyone in the neighborhood, that's why the houses were all abandoned! He growled. He will _not_ be doing that to his godson!!!

After hours of searching, the Azkaban escapee was just about ready to give up, until Snivellus suddenly opened the front door and walked to the edge of some sort of ward he'd been feeling while he was within it, his sensitive dog ears hearing something about a Skele-Gro and Pain Relievers. He better not be torturing his godson so severely that he needed those potions!

Oh... But Snivellus had just left his house! Which he could still smell Harry's scent in! He left his godson in his own house, and he could just kidnap him from right under his huge, ugly crooked nose! He internally cackled, just like he'd done when Peter blew up the street just so that he could run away. Oh, it would definitely wound the slimy snake's heart to see that Harry had been taken by him, from his own house!!!

He transformed back into a human and pushed the front door open, immediately face-to-face with a handsome man in his twenties, with a distinct snake-like sme--

VOLDEMORT!!!

Before he could react, he was _Stupefied_ and he snarled at the man.

"Sirius Black. To what do I owe this pleasure?" He sounded very displeased, but he wasn't intimidated by a man like him!

"Shouldn't you be at Malfoy Manor?" he snarled at the man, trying to get out of the spell's hold. The man just infuriatingly raised an eyebrow.

"And why should I be there at all?"

"You're the bloody Dark Lord trying to kill my godson!" he roared angrily, still fighting the spell.

"Ah, and how did you know?"

Sirius froze. He then looked at the handsome man standing above him. He was right, he didn't look like a mutant, snake-human hybrid with no nose and lips, and such an ugly face that he didn't want to see. He was actually a decent-looking man... was the snakeface thing a glamour?

"Your smell, I remember it.... That night when Lily and James died...! IT WAS YOUR FAULT THEY DIED!" His thoughts were slowly becoming muddy, and he didn't know what exactly he was thinking, and talking about, as he kept on struggling. "YOU'VE KILLED MY BEST FRIENDS NOW YOU WANNA KILL MY GODSON?! OVER MY DEAD BODY!!!"

"Who said I wanted to kill Harry?" he asked coolly, gazing at the mad man right in front of him. Oh, he disliked the Black Madness, because he knew that without it, the Blacks were actually decent people. "He's recovering from his uncle's actions right now, so I'd appreciate it if you're quieter." A silencing charm later, Sirius had screamed and struggled until he'd worn himself out.

At that moment he hated silencing charms more than anything in the world.

Then he heard a whimper, and he frantically looked around. Was that Harry? Harry!

Then the handsome Dark Lord walked past him and opened a door, revealing a heavily bandaged Harry, and he could smell the pain permeating the air. Did Snivellus and the Dark Lord do this?! But wait, the handsome Dark Lord-guy said it was due to his uncle... did Harry have an uncle...? He tried to remember, but he knew that James didn't have a brother... then he was lying!

"Hush Harry, I'm right here," he heard the soothing rumble the handsome Dark Lord made as he placed a hand on Harry's head. Sirius growled, but the sound went unheard due to the silencing charm. "Don't worry, you're safe... I'm right here," he kept on talking, until he slipped into hisses. He was speaking in Parseltongue! Of course, a slimy Slytherin like him would be able to speak to--

Then he heard an answering hiss. His eyes widened comically when he saw that it was... it was Harry, who was hissing... back... to the... Dark... Lord.

No, no, no, this couldn't be...!

"That's right," the Dark Lord slipped back into human speech. "You're in Severus' place."

"...nice," he heard Harry mumble. "Tom..."

Sirius felt his heart stop cold when he saw the Dark Lord lean forward and... and kissed his godson right on the lips! He struggled against the chains binding his hands and fee, wanting to scream at the Dark Lord to get his dirty hands off of his godson. Then he stopped when he heard a moan, and his jaws went slack when he found that it was Harry, moaning at the Dark Lord kissed him.

No, this can't be true...

He saw the Dark Lord smirk at him as he pulled away from Harry.

"No... Tom... more, please...?" there was that whimper again... and it was Harry...

"My pleasure."

When the next kiss happened, Sirius fell to the floor, out cold.

* * *

Tom sighed as Black fell to the floor, unconscious. For a moment, he entertained the idea of letting him stay there until Severus came back, and decided that it was a good idea when Harry silently asked for a cuddle with his eyes. He knew that his boy was still not all there, maybe thinking that this was a dream, but until he entered his mind to check how far the damage had gone, he couldn't be too sure.

Careful to not jostle Harry on the bed, he climbed in, draping his arms around the boy beside him. Harry gave him an innocent, happy smile, before he burrowed into his side and his breathing evened out. Tom just watched his soulmate as he slept, feeling at peace. Or maybe that was just his creature feeling happy with having his mate sleeping right next to him. Nevertheless, he was happy.

Well, not exactly happy... Due to this new turn of events, he needed to postpone his plans on torturing his muggle relatives and find out who gave him the mind-controlling pendant. He was displeased, but he liked sleeping with Harry, now that he was corporeal. He gladly set his former plans aside for later execution. Before he realized it, he fell asleep.

* * *

Dumbledore's glass shattered as it hit the stone floor of his office.

"Thomas... Eoin... Marvolo...?"

"Yes, Thomas Eoin Marvolo," Fudge confirmed. "Not Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"But..."

"I don't want to pass him up, Albus, he's far too valuable, his potential yet to be seen... He will be beneficial for the Wizarding World!"

"Alright, Cornelius..." Dumbledore sighed. "As long as he doesn't poison the children's minds..."

Fudge just smiled.

Remus sipped his tea calmly, listening to everything around him. He gathered that Dumbledore didn't like this... Tom Marvolo Riddle... He was interested in finding out who that person is, and he didn't know, but he had a feeling...

A feeling that soon, soon everything will be clear to him.

He disliked not knowing stuff, but secrets? Dumbledore has lots of them, and he wanted to know. He felt that he needed to know...

But first things first, he needed to prioritize Harry.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, comes before his cub.

* * *

Severus felt for the shrunken potions that he knew Potter--no, Harry, would need, and Apparated from Hogwarts back to his house. He wondered whether his Lord had gone on a mission to torture and find people... he shook his head. No, that monster wasn't human anymore, not after what he did to a mere child...

He opened the front door and nearly stumbled on something on the floor. He frowned. He had always been a tidy person, he never liked having anything littering the floor and generally making the place look messy... he sighed, the day had been far too demanding for his worn out body, and he knew any surprises could and would render him unconscious. He might be strong, but he also had his own limits. Steeling himself, he turned and looked down to see what he'd stumbled over--

\--and also fell unconscious from how surreal it was, whom he was seeing.

He had a runaway criminal in his house.

And that criminal was Sirius Black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I pray... that I can do my Java exams... in... 10 hours. It's currently 1AM people, and I haven't studied for my upcoming exam... I am screwed now, aren't I... Sigh... So... how did you like this chapter? I feel like there's something oddly wrong with this chapter, but I can't put my finger on it... Huh... Oh well.
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	11. Introductions In High Demand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops, sorry about the late update :9 had some off time for 2 weeks and all that time was taken away for Eid preparations in my parents home (my dad likes festive stuff while my mom and all my sisters and I hate those stuff but he's the head of house so...) Plus I went to this jail place and hit my head on the way home and now I'm getting headaches whenever I least expect it... Hmm... Anyways, enjoy this chapter~~

"Explain to me, how an escaped convict had come into my house?" Severus drawled, eyes shooting deathly glares aimed towards the thin, creepy-looking old man that looked far older than his age, which was Sirius Black.

"You took Harry, I saw you did it," Sirius sneered, hating the fact that he was bound to a dining chair, made sturdy by magic alone. He wanted so badly to throttle the life out of Severus, but the Dark Lord was watching...

The two had come to to each other's face, too close for comfort, and to an amusedly smiling Dark Lord. The two enemies were quick in moving away, and Sirius had almost charged at them when Tom had aimed his wand and cast a binding spell towards the not-so-sane escaped convict. He'd then snarled demands on freeing Harry and threats on if they harmed a single head on him, he'd kill them.

"Of course I took him," Severus snarled back, his eyes showing the barely concealed rage that was bubbling just beneath his skin. He hated the fact that abuse was something that still occurred frequently in this world--even to the Boy-Who-Lived! He'd vowed to stop those who had been subjected to it, and had done a great job in doing so to many students, Houses be damned. He didn't expect that the one rumored to be pampered like a prince and spoiled to a fault had been, in fact, the one that had suffered more abuse than everyone in the school--him included--combined. "If left to those filthy muggles for a second later, he'd die, no doubt."

"Blaming your own actions on innocent muggles, Snivell--US!!" he yelped the last part as a stinging hex was thrown at him.

"What did I say about calling each other names?" Tom asked darkly, although deep down was feeling amused more than anything towards the two overgrown children. He'd respected Severus for his adult way of thinking, more than his skills as a Potions Master, and had always valued his level-headed demeanor and rational opinions. Never would he thought that the Potions Master could act as childishly as Sirius Black.

Sirius just grumbled at the Dark Lord, throwing suspicious looks at him and glancing towards the closed door that led to Harry's room. "Why do you have Harry?" he asked finally.

"We'd just rescued him from his muggle relatives," Tom sneered as he thought about the two obese men and the horse-like woman. The cowards, he'd dubbed them. "He was on the verge of death when we came to him."

"Death?!" Sirius shouted, horrified. "You lie! Lies, lies, LIES! Harry shouldn't be dying, no, he should be on the air, flying, playing Quidditch and playing pranks and start to talk about the bees and birds and have a girlfriend or boyfriend and--"

"And yet, he's here, and he's been injured. Here's the list of injuries he'd suffered since he'd been born," Severus, sensing his Lord's dark aura at the mention of girlfriends and boyfriends had chosen the opportunity to change the direction of the conversation by throwing the deep diagnosis results towards his hated enemy. As the parchment rolled on the ground, Sirius' eyes got wider and wider in horror as each and every single ailment that Harry had experienced presented itself to him. He knew that the parchment and test was genuine, there were the correct rune sequence in the middle of the parchment that confirmed him of its legibility.

For some reason, Severus didn't find the satisfaction of seeing his enemy's face growing in horror, and found instead grim understanding within him. Rage was the first emotion to cross Sirius' face, and then sadness so profound, he could almost see the tears being formed in his eyes, before a dark, insane look settled onto his face. "I'll _kill_ them...!" he said with a promise that even if they were dead, he'd dig up their remains and tear those apart, just so that he could get the satisfaction of revenge--and maybe even delve into necromancy just to find their ghosts and not give them the peace Death offered those who passed through the Veil.

Tom nodded in agreement, his own dark thoughts going down the same road as the two in front of him. "Now that we've got that straight, I need you to see this," Tom said, dangling the pendant he'd taken from the Walrus-muggle that reeked of dark magic. He needed to know who it was that gave his Harry the mind-controlling pendant, and he knew that one of the Black Family's special ability was to track a certain spell, cast onto an object, back onto a person. That was why his past, crazier self had killed Regulus--because he'd sensed the magic within Slytherin's Locket and had attempted to destroy it. He never knew whether or not the younger Black knew about his Horcrux's existence.

"This is... This is mind-controlling magic...! You--"

"Took it from Harry's muggle uncle whom had taken it away by force from him and had caused a severe backlash of magic that even we haven't known of its' extent yet," Tom explained with a look. "As I'd said, we rescued him from a certain Death by taking him away and calming his magic."

"Calming his magic?" Now Severus hadn't heard about this. "How did that happen?"

"Ah, right, you both don't know," Tom smirked. "I'm Harry's soulmate."

Saying that the similar reactions on the two's faces was amusing was a huge understatement. Recovering from the shock, Severus coughed, snapping Sirius from the shock too. "So then, how am I supposed to catch the caster? I assume that you know about one of our special abilities, so I'll tell you now, we won't know who cast the spell unless we'd felt their magic before," he said with a pointed look.

"I also assume that the caster would be in Hogwarts so that's where I'll take you. But I don't know how you'll be able to slip past the many dementors guarding the school," Tom said thoughtfully.

"That said," Severus drawled, making Sirius give him an irked look, "I wondered how you escaped Azkaban."

"Oh that's easy. I'm sure you know how, Sni--Snape," Sirius said, changing the name when he saw a stinging hex on the tip of the Dark Lord's tongue.

"Ah yes, you could just turn into the mutt you truly are," Severus sneered, flinching slightly at the stinging hex his Lord had sent him. He was tempted to pout at the fairness his Lord had just showed him, but refrained from doing so because he didn't want to come across as far more childish than he already was due to being in the presence of Sirius Black.

"You mean you're an animagus?" Tom raised an eyebrow at the escaped convict, whom nodded with a proud smile.

"And I bet prongslet would be able to also in no time!" he said proudly.

"Prongs...?" Tom said, looking slightly lost.

"I think he meant Harry," Severus sighed, remembering the names the group of four Gryffindors had called each other. "He's the child of Prongs--James Potter's nickname--so he'll be Prongslet..."

Sirius just shrugged at the explanation. "So," he said with an eager grin, "When can I see Harry?"

* * *

Hermione held out her wand hand, wanting to try out one of the Wizarding World's transportation mode; the Knight Bus. She heard that it was very fast, faster than any automobiles and even airplanes, and very convenient too, for only a sickle. When an obnoxious-looking two story bus stopped suddenly in front of her, she grinned. Something new each day, and that day it was the Knight Bus.

"Where to, hun?" the man inside asked with a smile, showing off yellow teeth that made Hermione cringe, what with her parents being a dentist and all that.

"The Burrow," she said, plastering on a smile. It wasn't polite to show her distaste openly--it'd hurt his feelings, she thought.

"A sickle for a ride," he said with an even bigger grin. "Man, I missed the Burrow, am a friend of Arthur's you see. That Molly there, she's a busybody, but a nice person all the same, always givin' me lotsa food no matter what state I'm in. Saved me lotsa money, they did, whenever they invite me to a meal."

Hermione nodded. "How did you come to know about Mr. Wea--AAAAAAAAAH!" she screamed, totally unprepared for the suddenness of the bus' forward movement.

The man grinned in delight, loving how first-time riders would always have the same reaction. "We talk about muggles and stuff!" he declared happily before declaring that they had arrived.

"Thank you," the young witch said dazedly, stepping off of the bus. She wanted to hate how unsafe the ride was, no matter how brief...

But the thrill was too much for her Gryffindor side. The next time she'd ride it, she'd bring both Harry and Ron along, no doubt.

It was much too fun to not share it with them, she thought with a smile, walking towards the entrance to the Burrow.

* * *

It's been days, weeks even, and Tom was getting more and more worried with each passing day. When Sirius Black had seen his godson in that state, he became understandably enraged. But rage, at this point, was pointless, seeing as Harry should be waking up any day now, according to Severus. He really couldn't help but feel anxious due to the damage done to him by that muggle, both physically, and more importantly, mentally. He scowled at the thought of the sleeping inner-Harry covered in wounds as a mental representation of his mental damage.

It was late already, and he hadn't done much of anything, other than making arrangements with Lupin. He was thankful that potion ingredients could usually mask many scents other than your own, because the werewolf didn't seem to notice Sirius' scent all over him.

He was just contemplating on how that could happen when he noticed Harry's eyelids fluttering, the eyeball it concealed moving rapidly. Harry was waking.

Well, at least he hoped so.

"Harry?" he asked softly, knowing that noone could hear him in the house, what with Sirius and Severus out for a short run to the supermarket. A soft groan came from Harry, and his eyes slowly opened.

Tom's heart felt like breaking when he saw dull eyes stare up at him with no emotion whatsoever evident in those usually expressive green eyes. "... Tom?" he croaked, his hand going up to his forehead as if in pain, but he couldn't be too sure if that were true.

He knew that there would be some sort of mental damage done due to the mind control inflicted to him and the sudden ripping of it, and yes his awakening was a relief, but this Harry--emotionless, damaged, broken--was heartbreaking at the very least.

"Oh, Harry..." the Dark Lord sighed, pulling the teen into his arms and hugging him. He may not be big on affectionate displays, but he needed the physical reassurance that came from it. He swore he'd fix him no matter how damaged, broken his Harry was.

* * *

 

There was something wrong, he knew, but he couldn't find out what. He felt as if something was missing, and it was frustrating him to no end to not know what it was. He closed his eyes and relished the feeling of his soulmate hugging him against his solid, warm chest, his ear right above the beating heartbeat that gave him a sense of security.

He tried to remember what happened, but all he knew was that Vernon was hitting him for something...

What was it...?

Or maybe... Perhaps this was a dream...? It wouldn't be too odd to have the odd dreams of being hugged by hus soulmate--maybe he was just unconscious and now dreaming? But it felt so real...

He brought his heavy arms around the man's back and clutched it tightly as if he was afraid that he'd disappear. Nuzzling into Tom's chest, he sighed a happy, "Tom..."

He wanted to smile at the older wizard, but found that he couldn't. Instead, confusion and a little bit of fear shone through his now dull eyes. Tom pulled back to look at his soulmate's eyes.

"Tom..? Why are you here?" he asked with confusion.

"I rescued you, little Brat," Tom smiled, concerned. "You were being beaten by your uncle and your magic lashed out. Don't you remember?"

Harry nodded. "I did, and I lost consciousness, that's why I'm dreaming this, right?" Tom looked at him strangely.

"No, this is not a dream, Harry," he said, shaking his head.

"It's not?"

"Of course not."

"Then how come you're here?"

Tom frowned, confused.

"I mean, I know you don't want me, nobody does, so I know if you're here then I'm dreaming," he elaborated. Tom saw his dull green eyes become duller at his own words, and he cupped Harry's cheeks gently and looked into his eyes.

"Don't say that about yourself," he admonished gently, his heart aching when his mind finally processed what his words truly meant. "Of course I want you, nothing's going to change that as it's a fact."

"Then why didn't you come back?" Harry hated that he somehow sounded a hell lot vulnerable when he said that. He felt something big was missing, and it bothered him. A lot.

"Harry, I did come back for you now, didn't I? I couldn't get you when you were in Hogwarts because that old coot could and would sense my magical signature. I couldn't risk that, what with him wanting to get me into Azkaban, or worse, killed. I needed time to prepare for what I needed to do next so that I could easily be by your side and let none be all the wiser."

Harry understood his reasoning, he really did, but he couldn't help the pout that came with it. Gathering the small teen into his arms, Tom rocked him back and forth, thinking of how to break the news to him.

"Harry," he said, bracing himself for what come may. "Do you remember why your uncle beat you?"

"For anything and everything," Harry said quietly, his words slightly muffled by his chest.

"How about last time? What did you remember?"

Harry frowned. He remembered that he was being punished... But for what? He told that to Tom.

"Well, Harry, I found that you were under a mind-control spell and your uncle had ripped the enchanted item right off of you, which caused your magic to lash out and nearly destroy that muggle's home. But that's not important," he felt Harry tense at his words, thinking that he'd punish him for it. Tom sighed. "Ripping an enchanted item off of the one formerly wearing it could have bad side effects, and since it was a mind-control enchantment type, I need to enter your mind to assess the damage done."

He could feel Harry's confusion rolling at him in waves, and he knew he had to ask in a more... Gryffindor manner. Really, he sometimes wished that Gryffindors weren't so thick that they couldn't understand subtle questions that--

"Alright, you may," Harry nodded against his chest. "How do we do it?"

Tom looked at him, surprised and in disbelief. Maybe Harry was sharper than the other Gryffindors? Oh, he liked the sound of that...

"Well I need to use Legillimency on you to see what damage was caused and what's needed to be done to heal you, but I can't guarantee that it won't be painful," he said, his hands gripping Harry's form a little bit tighter, a rare show of nervousness. He was proficient in using the spell, just that he never practiced so that Everytime he cast it, it'd be painless. It was also a method of punishment for his Death Eaters when he felt like they were hiding something from him.

"It's alright," Harry said. "Just tell me what to do."

"Just look into my eyes," Tom said, and when he complied, he gently entered the boy's mind and found himself back in the bedroom mindscape. Not much had changed, he noticed, except for a book in the corner of the room.

Not that he noticed.

He was far too horrified at what-- well, whom-- he saw, lying on the bed, naked and bleeding. Inner-Harry still looked as if he were peacefully sleeping, but with many whip marks, Knife marks, arms and legs in broken angles that made him cringe, and a bleeding head, and also hand prints around his neck as if someone tried to strangle him.

What he needed to do was heal each and every single on of his injuries, without his magic. It was far too risky to use magic in one's mindscape.

He began cleaning a few wounds and re-breaking a few wrongly healed bones, setting them until it was how it should be, and kept on working until most of the damage was mended. He gently retreated from Harry's mind and caught him when he fell forward, panting and sweating with exertion.

"That... Wasn't so... Bad..." he mumbled with a sigh. He felt that something was mending, and was glad that Tom had helped him fix whatever it was.

"No, but due to the extensive damage you've taken, it might take a few more Legillimency sessions before everything is as it's supposed to."

Harry groaned and stuck his tongue out at him. "I don't like this," he grouched. Tom chuckled. His Harry was coming back, and just a little bit more and he'd be the Harry he knew before the whole fiasco started.

"By the way, who's that?" Harry asked him, his eyes on someone right behind him. He turned his head to find Sirius Black staring at Harry in shock.

"That, Harry, is Sirius Black--" Tom was cut off by said escaped convict screaming at the top of his lungs,

"HE'S ALIVE!!!!"

Before proceeding to hug him in a crushing bear hug. Tom sighed and continued, "--your godfather."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Believe it or not this was a little bit difficult to write... And yes, the whole Hermione in the Knight Bus was just some sort of filler... And I found this many books giveaway and I wanted all those books... :Q so here's the lucky link: http://genrebuzz.com/giveaways/win-an-entire-library-of-kick-ass-urbanfantasy-and-pnr-books-amreading-uf/?lucky=13394
> 
> Ahahah... Yeah, I'm definitely screwed...
> 
> \---- To be continued --
> 
> 7/12/2017: Oops, I wrote Sirius and Lupin instead of Sirius and Severus... my bad.... Thank you rozelrie for pointing that out!
> 
> \--Oh, and, no, I was visiting my uncle. He's in that jail place. Family problems, the usual.


	12. School Troubles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure where I'm going but... Yeah. Have I told you how hectic it is whenever I go home? By hectic I mean I get so lazy I don't get out of bed which causes my mom to shout at me and my big sis (because she does the same thing) and my lil sis to get all "ARGH DAMMIT MOVE Y'LAZYASSES" and my big sis goes all like "Dude, u go" and I go "no u go. Me too lazy" and the u go fight starts and my dad comes home and is all like "why the hell do I have to deal w/ this every time I get home..."
> 
> Yeah. Moving on... new chapter (Yay!) as I said idk where I'm going with this but I hope you enjoy this chapter too :) There's a time skip to Hoggywarts btw.

It was September 1st, and Ginny was biting her nails in frustration. Earlier that morning, she'd had a skip in her steps, so happy she was that she was about to meet her Harry again, and this time, was determined to make him show his affections towards her in public, telling everyone that they're together or something, but was confronted by a Harry that just glanced at her and said a "Hey" before moving away to talk to her family. It was just... frustratingly frustrating!

What's more, he came with Snape. SNAPE of all people...!!! And the way he eyed her suspiciously was annoying! She only gave him an innocent look in return, and he just gave her an unimpressed look as if saying that he knew what she was doing. And then there was also the black dog... grim... dog...? The black dog that bounded up to her and ruined her looks by licking her all over, and now she just stank! She couldn't wash the saliva off and had to have her mom cast a cleaning charm on her, and even then she still stank! Luckily she used her perfume to mask the horrible smell, but still!

And then when she went to find her Harry, he was already sitting in a compartment, to his right was a window, to his left a sleeping man that she'd never seen before! Not that that mattered but, he took her rightful seat, right next to her Harry! And now as Harry conversed with her brother and the know-it-all, quietly so that they didn't disturb the sleeping man, she kept giving him seductive looks, fluttering her eyelashes as she sat right next to Hermione, and he was looking at his two best friends, but not at her! She fumed internally and had wanted to command him to look at her, demand his attention to her, but there were others in the compartment, so she held her tongue.

Though in the end, she fell asleep, and was woken up by a cold chill, settling into her bones. She opened her eyes to find her Harry face-to-face with a dementor, and she let out a loud scream, joining Hermione's screams of "Harry!"

"Expecto Patronum," said a calm voice, and the dementor went away. She saw that the sleeping man before was now awake, and had a wand in his hand. Despite the calm voice he used to cast the spell, his face looked pale, and his eyes held fear and relief.

"Thank you, Sir," Harry said in an odd voice.

"You're welcome, Harry. Now, If you'll excuse me," he said before slipping away, opening the compartment door, in which they all heard terrible screams from, and closing it once more.

"I wonder who he was?" Hermione said with that glint in her eyes that everyone knows mean that her curiosity was piqued.

"Beats me," Ron shrugged.

"Probably our new DADA teacher? Who knows," Harry stated, eyeing the door warily.

"Are you alright, Harry?" Ginny asked in a sweet, concerned voice that made them all think that she was genuinely concerned.

"Guess so, just a little bit shocked, I guess."

"Oh, we should get you to the infirmary right after we arrive!" Hermione declared, and Ron snickered. Harry just rolled his eyes in exasperation before he motioned for them all to sit down and go back to conversing. Ginny had forgotten why she was so mad before, and only wanted to rest and relax, preferably with her Harry massaging her feet, on his knees or something. Yes, that was a good idea, but right now both Ron and Hermione were watching her for some reason. Oh well. She closed her eyes and relaxed further into sleep, and eventually fell asleep.

The man never came back.

* * *

Tom smirked at Dumbledore, knowing that he knew exactly whom he truly was, even with the changed name. There was a faculty meeting right before the train arrived and it they used it so that he could introduce himself and explain to the other faculty members why exactly he was there. He was glad that the only people who knew that he was the Dark Lord or that he was Tom Riddle or both were only Dumbledore and Minerva, and also Severus, though he wanted to not be included in the list.

Remus Lupin was to arrive with the Hogwarts students so that he could let his wolf have some bonding time with Harry, his pack's cub. Severus had brought Sirius over to the dungeons so that he could find the one that cast a mind-controlling spell on Harry and was supposed to stay with Severus, as his pet dog or something. When Tom told him of his plans, both Severus and Sirius had the same dark expressions that showed their displeasure, but didn't act on it. They knew that it was a good plan and they didn't have any other alternatives, other than Sirius staying with Remus, which was unlikely since he knew his wolf would immediately sense that it was Sirius Black, and would definitely tell the old man about him.

They couldn't have that, now could they?

Plus, Tom was staying with Remus and Remus would have some time to spend with Harry, maybe even have some sort of sleepover some nights, to appease his wolf, which was a bonus to Tom, because he'd also be spending his time with Harry. He worried though on how the werewolf would react to them being soulmates and such. Then again, he might have smelled it when he met with Harry in the train, so who knows?

Before long, the faculty meeting was adjourned, and Minerva walked up to him.

"It's good to see you again, Riddle," she said softly. "And saner this time too." There was a twist in the corner of her mouth that showed exactly how amused she was.... or happy. "We'll talk again later."

Tom gave her a curt nod before she walked away with a smile. He smiled also, remembering how he and Minerva were schoolmates and had this... relationship with each other. Back then Slytherin and Gryffindor animosity wasn't as pronounced, and he and Minerva hung out a lot whenever they saw each other. It wasn't until Tom found the Chamber of Secrets and created a horcrux that they started to drift away, and when Minerva confronted him about it, their fight might have started the whole animosity boost thing, and Dumbledore being Dumbledore, he didn't so much about it.

But it seems like seeing him now, with the other faculty members, looking far younger than his real age, had made her realize that he'd forgiven her, and her invitation to talk later was her way of apologizing to him too. The first step at least. The second step was to say it outright, but they'll get to that. Eventually.

Dumbledore came up to him and put his hand on his shoulder, smiling although it didn't reach his unusually not twinkling eyes. "Thomas, my boy," he said in a jovial tone.

"Headmaster," he nodded, shrugging the offending hand away.

"I hope to see you enjoy teaching and being a teacher's assistant," he said again, to which Tom only nodded. He knew that the Headmaster was about to launch into some things here and there and some warning about this and that, nothing Severus didn't tell him before and warned about. So he just tuned out his incessant babblings and plotted behind his powerful and impenetrable Occlumency barriers.

By the time Dumbledore was done, he was bored out of his mind, and he wanted to see Harry again.

"Albus," Severus called as he opened the door to the staff room.

"What's wrong, Severus?" the headmaster asked.

"It seems like the dementors the Ministry placed around Hogwarts' perimeters had just attacked the train," he said, anger hidden behind the cool tone he was using. Tom's heart pounded in his chest although that was the only indication that he was worried about Harry.

"Are you sure, my boy?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes wide.

"Yes, Sir," the potions master nodded at his inquiry.

"Is everybody safe?" Tom asked, concerned.

"Apparently, none of the students were harmed, although for some reason only Potter was nearly Kissed," he said, eyes hard and serious, glittering dangerously. "There weren't any casualties, however, only some students received shock due to the encounter, so I'll be in the dungeons preparing some more Calming Draught."

"Thank you, Severus, my boy," Dumbledore sighed before moving away. "I shall take care of this matter first," he said, a grumble hidden in his voice that Tom caught. He would've smirked if not for Harry's life being in danger, and he was just away for less than a day! Severus caught him staring at him.

"He'll be alright, Lupin himself told me," was the curt answer to the unspoken question. With an inaudible sigh of relief, Tom nodded. They then left the Staff room to go to where they needed to go to so that they would be prepared when the students arrive.

"He'd better be," Tom muttered under his breath.

* * *

When they all entered the Great Hall, Harry didn't know what to expect. But one glance to the teacher's table and his eyes immediately found Tom's, and his heart beat faster and he felt something twinge in his chest. He saw those worry-filled eyes an knew that he knew about the dementor incident in the train. He sighed, knowing that after visiting Madame Pomphrey's, he'd be meeting with Tom. The ruby eyes that followed him gave him an exhilarated feeling, and he... liked it, he supposed.

"Mate, Mione, look, that's the guy from the train!" Ron whispered to them loudly. His words would've been heard by everyone else had the other students not been so rowdy with chatter about the dementor incident.

"You think he's the DADA teacher?" Hermione asked excitedly, just knowing that to learn from that man would be the best experience of all times. He seemed like a decent teacher, at least, calm and collected, and smiling kindly to and speaking softly to the other teachers, unlike a certain someone that only gave a cursory glance towards the whole student body before glaring at the table, ignoring most, if not all, attempts from other teachers to strike up a conversation with him.

Harry cringed, something must've happened that the potions master would be in such a bad mood.

On the contrary, when McGonagall entered with the first years, she seemed to be in one of her better moods. Maybe something happened between them? Or maybe he was just reading too much into things--why would those two fight anyways? Other than a case of some lions and snakes getting into trouble, before the Opening Feast even started... now that was a new record, even for Hogwarts.

"I think so," Ron nodded.

"Then who's the other guy?" Ginny asked, her eyes staring at the dark-haired, crimson-eyed beauty that sat near Severus Snape, whose crimson eyes were staring intently into Harry's emerald ones. For a few long minutes, it seemed as if the two were in their own world, at least to the outside world, as they stared at each other.

"Dunno, some guy? A new teacher maybe, or an assistant? Dad told me that DADA this year would have two teachers, one main teacher and the other an assistant. Some new guy in the ministry needed to get his Defence Mastery completed so he was assigned to a post here," Ron said quietly. What they didn't realize was that nearly every girl students and a few guy students were salivating over him.

Tom gave Harry a warm smile that made him smile back, although it was just a twitch of his lips, while the rest that had been staring at him nearly melted at the gesture. And here Tom thought he was keeping his charisma down for the Opening Feast.

"Oh, gosh, Harry, did you see that?" Ginny said, her eyes held stars in them, and there was a bit of drool coming out of the corner of her mouth. Ron saw this and made a disgusted noise.

"Ginny, you can't be lusting over a teacher?" he whispered harshly, not liking the thought of his baby sister salivating over such and old man.

"Who cares? He's hot," she snapped at him, and Hermione nodded.

"I agree," she said.

"Well I can also be hot too!" he pouted childishly.

"Yeah," Harry snorted. "In a hundred years or so, you will."

"Hey!"

They all laughed, except for Harry, who just gave them a small smile. Over the few days after his awakening from his coma, he'd found that feeling happy... was something foreign to him, and that smiling didn't come as naturally as before. Although he could feel happy, it had to be an intense happiness that would prompt him to smile, and even then his smile wouldn't be as big as it used to be. Tom had assured him that it was a side-effect of the mind-controlling spell's anchor being ripped off of him rather abruptly, and could be fixed with regular Legillimency treatment once a week or month or so.

He was getting better, he supposed, what with him being able to feel more than just... emptiness and loneliness, the only feelings that he felt back when he first woke up.

After the headmaster concluded the Feast, Hermione immediately got up and pulled on his arm, insisting that meeting with Madame Pomphrey immediately was something that he needed to do, before some sort of irreparable harm came to him. Sighing resignedly, Harry obediently got up and let himself get dragged by the girl that was reciting a few books about psychology and hospitals and such.

The visit ended up with Harry having to stay in the infirmary for the night, so that Madame Pomphrey could watch over him and see if getting so close to the dementors had some sort of effect on him. Hermione and Ron left with guilty looks on their faces, both knowing how much Harry hated the place. But now that he was there, he sighed resignedly and laid back onto the uncomfortable infirmary bed, getting approving looks from Madame Pomphrey, even as she took care of the other students that had gone to her, most of them rounded up by the Prefects and both Head Boy and Head Girl.

He closed his eyes and tuned out the low buzz of sounds the other students were making as the school nurse got around, and after a while fell asleep. He woke up sometime in the night to the feeling of someone carding their fingers through his hair. He knew somehow that this person was Tom, and he could also feel two others' presence nearby.

"Tom?" he mumbled sleepily, opening his eyes.

"Yes, it's me, Harry. I heard you got a very close encounter with a dementor today?" he murmured quietly, watching as Harry subconsciously leaned into the warmth of his hand.

"Yeah, I did," Harry replied, closing his eyes contentedly.

"Did you feel anything? Like sadness, or hurt, or something?" Tom asked again. Harry frowned, thinking. He tried to remember how it felt for the dementor to be right in front of his face, so close they might as well be kissing.

"Well, not sadness per se, but just..." he tried to explain. "Something like confusion...? I remember someone... saying something about me, and then... there was laughter, and then... I'm not sure, but I think it was a green light. That's all, though, I couldn't remember much of anything else."

Snape and Tom's eyes had widened almost comically in surprise, horror, and sadness. "Oh, Harry," Tom's voice nearly cracked, and suddenly he was enveloped in a very warm, very nice and safe-feeling hug. Harry sighed and closed his eyes contentedly. Hugs and such, he was still getting used to getting them almost constantly, what with Hermione hugging him, the Weasley family hugging him, he'd always flinch first before relaxing, even back then when Sirius suddenly hugged him.

But with Tom, he felt safe and content, and immediately relaxed being in his embrace. It felt nice. "I'll do my best to protect you from them, alright Harry? It seems like you're their favourite snack now," he said, trying to lighten up the mood, which worked when Harry chuckled quietly. It was the first laugh he'd ever heard since he woke up from the coma. He felt better now and had relaxed enough to fall asleep in Tom's arms.

"Thank you, Tom," Harry mumbled almost inaudibly as he drifted off to sleep.

"Go sleep, Harry."

And with a kiss, they left. They never did notice their audience watching from the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it just me, or is this a really short chapter? Sorry, couldn't help but jump to September 1st... :) And good news people, I set up a Patreon account~ Well, my family pointed out that I'm a useless lazy ass, and that I should do something productive or something. So I became a creator. So if you're interested, then go ahead. Next week is the last exams week, though, so I hope I survive...
> 
> So, what do you think? Did you enjoy this chapter? (Not beta'd, as always :P So all mistakes are mine. MINE MINE MINEEEE)
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	13. Wolf Detective

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm catching a cold... or a fever. I keep coughing a hell, hell lot, and I'm dizzy most of the time... And the only time I feel better is when I'm laying down on my bed... sleeping. And also, I should probably study... Rather than write fanfics, but I like writing more than studying :( Guess I'll go grab some snacks for after I'm done with this chapter... That's to say, enjoy! (This is why I say my fingers have a mind of their own...)

This was interesting.

Remus sat on the chair in his office, mulling over the things that had happened within the span of a day. When Harry had come into the compartment he was in with his friends, he was hit by the most familiar scent, a scent that reminded him of something--someone, but he couldn't place who. His inner wolf was howling, happy to find his pack's cub, safe and sound, and smelling and looking as healthy as can be, if a bit on the short side.

Scratch that, he looked far shorter than even the girl--Hermione Granger. As he evened his breathing and closed his eyes, Harry sat right next to him, near the window. The wolf within him howled in joy once again, and demanded him to immediately scent him, mark him as part of his pack, even though he was sure he'd done that when Harry was born. He relaxed, feeling quite content with the knowledge that at the very least, the Alpha-cub bond was being appeased by the closeness between them.

When the compartment door opened, it revealed a boy he knew as the Longbottom heir. Then there were others that came and went, some to say hi to Harry, others to ask if they could join, and a particular Malfoy heir had barged in and insulted them before he left, humiliated by Harry's words--not that he cared much. At least all of them had quietened down once they noticed he was there.

When he thought no one else was going to enter, the compartment door opened one last time, and he fought the urge to growl at the smell that assaulted his nose. He knew that scent, even under as many perfumes whoever this person--this new girl was wearing. She also smelled odd, with anger, confusion, disappointment, and many other negative feelings jumbled together was carefully concealed with fake happiness. It was an odd combination, or maybe the girl herself was odd.

But that didn't explain why she had Padfoot's marking saliva. The marking saliva that the Marauders used when they felt that someone was a danger to them. It wasn't used often, but the werewolf within him had memorized the scent since it was a very effective way to deal with dangerous people. Sudden realization hit him like a tonne of bricks. Why did she have the marking saliva? Why was she marked? How did she become marked? Did that mean that Padfoot was near?

That Sirius is close by?

If that were so, then the students would be in danger... And the fact that he's marked her means that she might become his victim. As much as it hurt to think of his friend... once-friend like that, Sirius _was_ placed in Azkaban for a reason. He tried to prove his friend's innocence, but no one had listened to him, and Dumbledore had him assigned on getting the werewolf packs' agreement to join the Order, in which he failed, and the Alpha had said that that's final.

To go back there and try to persuade them would mean his death, so he told the Order that he wanted some vacation and time to mourn his lost friends--his broken pack. And to think that one of his mates was placed within Azkaban and the other wasn't approved by the rest of his pack... he didn't even want to tell his other mate that he was his, well, mate. He'd already told Sirius, and he'd been angry for a minute, and then sulked the next few days afterward, before he came around and told him that it was alright.

He had hoped that something would happen, and had also told both Peter and James, but as expected, they denied him of his other mate. He stopped pursuing for him after that.

He woke up with a jolt--when did he fall asleep?--to the feeling of danger. Moony was growling, hostile, trying to make him move so that he'd do something. He sensed danger to the pack's cub. He opened his eyes and took a defensive stance, following the children's confusion, questions on what they're feeling, what was happening. Then he saw it, the tell-tale frost appearing on the window, as pale, bony fingers pry it open.

Fingers that were far too close to Harry for his liking. He took out his wand from its' holster, and closed his eyes, finding his happiest memory to date, and moved his wand, "Expecto Patronum."

The dementor immediately let go of his pack's cub--Harry, and immediately retreated from the compartment. His werewolf hearing could pick up the confused screams of other students on board, and he immediately went to find the other teachers that are bound to be on board, casting a more powerful patronus spell to encircle him and into compartments as he went. He needed to tell someone about this.

* * *

Once he arrived at his chambers, one he used with his assistant, Thomas, he immediately greeted the young man once he saw him.

"I heard there was a dementor attack in the train?" he asked, concern, worry, and hope barely concealed within his voice. It was futile anyway, his werewolf hearing could detect small thing such as that.

"Yes, there was," he sighed. "The students are in shock, most of the little ones were affected. The only one that was face-to-face with one was Harry Potter, though." There was a spike of worry that came from the man, in which was squashed down immediately.

"Is he in the infirmary now?" he asked, knowing that Harry had a certain aversion with visiting the infirmary.

"Yes, I made sure he's properly checked by Poppy before I left... Why are you worried about him?"

"He's a student," he replied curtly, and although it was the truth, it wasn't the full truth, and his wolf could smell it. He narrowed his eyes, and Thomas seemed to realize something, then sighed. "Nothing's getting out of that nose of yours, is it?"

"No," he replied, amused.

"He's also my soulmate," he admitted, and Remus stared at him for a moment longer before it hit him; that scent was so similar to his that it was a wonder that the werewolf didn't realize it the first time. "And here I thought those who are mates, soulmates especially, had similar scents?" Thomas raised an eyebrow.

"Well, yes, it just.... I just didn't realize it the first time," he muttered apologetically. "So you'll be visiting him later?"

"Of course," _isn't that obvious?_ wasn't said, but he knew that he was about to say it at the very last minute. He gave him a knowing smile, and the younger wizard pouted before catching himself, and looked away.

"Well, I'll also be visiting later, but if you want then don't wait for me."

"What are you going to do?" he asked, suspicion clear in his eyes.

"My wolf wants to scent him, for some reason, to get him back into the pack," he shrugged.

"Your pack's cub isn't he?" he snorted.

"Is and has always been," he replied with a smirk, knowing that he was jealous, but wouldn't show it. It was a bit cruel, he admitted, but being an Alpha--he _needed_ to do it, his wolf wouldn't have it any other way. At the very least the creature within Thomas realized that it was a parental gesture than marking what was his, so he nodded, resigned.

"And here I thought you did that when he was born...."

"I did," he stated with a frown. "I did, but... I'm not sure why my wolf wants to scent him again."

Thomas looked as if he knew something, but didn't say anything. Remus just let him be.

"I'll go visit him right now," he stated, leaving immediately. Remus waited awhile before he stood up, knowing that he'd need to patrol the grounds first before he could visit Harry.

* * *

As expected, no one was up and about at this time of night. The day was quite an eventful one, after all. Not even the seventh years were up. He decided to visit Harry, and opened the infirmary door, only to be assaulted by Padfoot's marking scent.

"What are you doing up at this time of night, Ms. Weasley?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at the way she was standing right beside Harry's bed. He smelled disappointment, anger, worry, and some scent he couldn't place, but knew was something bad.

"I was visiting Harry, sir," she said quietly. "I'll be leaving."

And so she left.

Remus frowned at her departure, thinking for some reason that it was... suspicious. He shook his head, deciding to think about this later, before he went to Harry's bed and looked at the sleeping form. He looked so relaxed and young, younger than he should be. He frowned. That shouldn't have happened. Both James and Lily had looked more mature for their age, not younger. Harry was thin, almost as if he was starved. He was just skin and bones, no fat anywhere.

He remembered how big his eyes were, for such a small and delicate face. There was something almost innocent about him, though.

His wolf growled unhappily, and he realized that he had to scent him _now._

He leaned down and nosed the sleeping wizard's neck, rubbing his cheek and the tip of his nose around, until his neck smelled like him, like his pack. He pulled away and froze when he smelled Thomas on the boy's lips. How did he not notice that the first time? It didn't matter that they were soulmates or whatnot, Harry was far too young to be kissing anyone!

He stormed into their chambers and found that Thomas wasn't around. He could hear that he was asleep in his room and sighed. This talk could wait for another day.

* * *

The days after that passed quietly and almost uneventfully, with the keyword almost. Draco Malfoy seemed to be set on making Harry's year particularly horrible. He'd been jinxed many times and although he'd returned the favor, he couldn't help but feel as if there was something about these jinxes. Something... odd. Well, more like, he had this odd feeling that wherever he went, Professor Lupin was there. Everywhere. Every single time.

It was a tad bit creepy.

And what's creepier than that was Ginny. She has been giving him odd looks, blinking at him as something got into her eyes, but always whenever her gaze a directed at him. He'd been tempted more than once to tell her to get some eye drops thing that the muggles developed before stopping, knowing that she wouldn't know what it was. The only thing that had given him something fun to do was DADA, what with Professor Lupin making the subject fun for everyone.

What's more was that he didn't seem to favor any Houses, despite being a Gryffindor back in his days... or so he heard. And Tom being 'Professor Marvolo' was a bonus. Another odd thing that has been happening was that many students, especially girls, had many questions for him, and by a lot, he meant hell, hell lot. And most of them were very idiotic questions too.

He wondered why questions that had been answered beforehand would be asked again by the same people, almost once every five minutes. It was honestly irritating, and he saluted Tom for his patience, smiling as he answered most of their questions.

"Mr. Potter, please stay after class," Professor Lupin said with a sigh. Harry blinked.

"Yes, Sir," although he didn't know why. He gave Hermione and Ron questioning looks.

"You were spacing out, mate," Ron said.

"We tried to get you to snap out of it, but..." Hermione shrugged. "You wouldn't snap out of it."

"Oh." That explained everything. He cast an apologetic look towards the professor, and he just nodded with a fond smile, going back to teaching something about pixie behavior.

He caught the amused smirk that Tom had on his face and pouted. It wasn't his fault that he spaced out!

At the end of the class, everyone filed out slowly, something odd that he'd noticed on this particular class only, and Professor Lupin had to shoo them all away. "You wanted to talk to me, Professor?"

"Yes, Mr. Potter... Harry. I have noticed that you've been feeling confused in my class, more often than not. Why is that?"

"Umm, well," Harry said, shifting his feet a little nervously.

"If you have any questions about my class, you know you could just raise your hand and ask, right?"

"It's not... it's not your classes, professor," Harry shook his head. "It's just that... I knew my classmates since first year and was wondering why they ask a lot of questions, even questions that have already been answered before." He glanced at Tom and saw him try to hide a smile while Professor Lupin seemed to be dumbstruck. "I just don't know why they keep doing that... Do you know, Professor?"

"That, Mr. Potter," Tom said, gaining both their attentions, "Is something that we cannot answer."

"What? Why is that?"

"Because you're far too young for this question," he drawled in a way not unlike a certain potions master. Harry just blinked at him for a moment, frowning at the next.

"I'm thirteen."

"We are aware of your age, Mr. Potter," Tom said, amused. Harry huffed, annoyed at that and looked away, pouting. Professor Lupin cleared his throat, glaring at Tom.

"The reason, Mr. Potter, for the... strange behavior of the students in question, is because Riddle here is attractive for them."

"So?" he tilted his head. "I know he's attractive, but how is that the reason?" He saw Tom tense up, trying not to laugh. Harry narrowed his eyes at him.

"Well, that is to say, that they have... an attraction to him," Lupin said, trying to explain this in terms the thirteen-year-old would understand.

"Yeah, I know that," he nodded, still very much clueless. "But they keep asking odd questions here and there."

"Well..." Lupin tried to find the words but sighed. "Well, I guess Professor Marvolo here is correct, you're too young for the question."

Harry just looked confused and frowned. Tom gave Lupin a look, and Lupin gave Tom a look, and they seemed to be competing in trying to out-look each other, until Lupin nodded resignedly. He then proceeded to glare at Tom and Tom raise an eyebrow at him, before he disappeared into his office, leaving Harry alone. He had a feeling that he'd just missed something.

"Harry," Tom said, gesturing for him to come closer. He obliged. Getting on his knees, Tom took Harry's hands in his and looked straight into his eyes. "Remember, Harry, that I'll always be yours, okay?"

Confused, Harry just nodded slowly. When Tom moved to stand again, Harry squeezed the hands in his and stepped forward, kissing Tom's cheek. He had a feeling that it was what he needed to do, before he gathered his things and left. He felt a smile on his oddly warm face, but didn't care. He'd just kissed Tom!

* * *

"I can't believe that he's still..." Remus sighed.

"Well, I did warn you about treating him like the students his age," Riddle said, stepping into the office. Remus just glared at him.

"I know, it's just... very unexpected, that's all," he sighed again. "I can smell Harry on you, did you hug him?"

"No, he kissed me," Riddle smirked and he glared.

"I did tell you that no kisses allowed. You can't kiss him."

Riddle scoffed at that. "I didn't say _I_ kissed him, did I? I said _he_ kissed me."

Remus froze and stared at Riddle, wide-eyed. "But's he's still too young!"

"He's thirteen."

"I'm aware."

"He's at the age where he'd want to do some... ah, experiments, isn't he?"

"But Harry's different!"

"How so?" Thomas raised an eyebrow at him. "He's at the age where puberty hits, he's a healthy young boy, he's bound to be curious on things like that."

"But..."

"And I'm his soulmate, just as he's mine. Who better than I to teach him these things?"

Remus sputtered at that, staring incredulously at him. "Fine," he grumbled. "Just... just wait until he get the 'Talk' from me, okay?"

"Does he even know that you're supposed to be his pack's Alpha? That you're more or less his honorary godfather?" Thomas just raised an eyebrow at him, probably knowing that he hadn't told him yet.

"I'll have to tell him sometime in the near future," he agreed. "For now he should be going to class... Potions, right?"

"Double potions, yes," Thomas nodded.

"Well, I hope he's not late to class, considering how long we kept him here. You know how Severus is," he smiled fondly.

"Oh..." Riddle said. "I... forgot to give him a permission slip."

Remus just looked at him in horror and groaned.

"He's going to _kill_ him..."

"Let's just hope not," Thomas agreed, and they both secretly hoped that Severus wasn't too harsh on the boy. The glares they received at dinner was enough answer to that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somehow, I managed to finish this chapter in 3 hours (wheee~) Did I make Harry a little bit too clueless? Too innocent? Because tbh, I like the innocent Harry XD And another thing, my neck's bleeding while I was writing, so I'll need to take care of that (don't know how this came to be, but I also need to wash away the stain... sigh...)
> 
> Sooooo what did you think? I was tempted to just make Tom hug him again, but it didn't click with the scene, you know?
> 
> \---- To be continued --
> 
> 18/08/2017: Edited from Professor Riddle to Professor Marvolo (how I missed this... has a logical explanation--I'm quite the forgetful person, you see...) Thank you to BooksAreTheBestWeapon (I agree with your name btw) for this correction... and for the next chapters too, since I also used Professor Riddle in them -_-"


	14. Fun Time!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Made the title that because of Nigahiga's MAPOTI vid. (hashtag race XD) Anyways, thank you all for your support! I managed to sleep all day yesterday and was awake all night, reading manga and studying at the same time... And, huh, everyone guessed the second mate right... Well, I wasn't exactly subtle about it... For this new chapter, enjoy~ (I need a break from calculus, it's tomorrow. O.o)

Severus' hand was steady as he moved them with almost inhuman grace, his face passive, but there was a vindictive light within those obsidian orbs. Sirius, or, well, Padfoot, was curled up in a dark corner, watching the dark man grade the student's summer homework with dark glee in amusement. Only _he_ would take such dark pleasure in grading homework.

The ungraded pile of parchment was slowly decreasing, and once it was completely gone, he'd never seen anyone look so sad and relieved and irritated at the same time. "What are you staring at, Black?" Seve--Snape snapped, glaring at the black grim in the corner. Padfoot got up and shifted into Sirius, and with an amused grin, walked up to the office desk.

"Only you, Snape, that would be so happy to grade homework," he shook his head. Severus just raised an eyebrow at him.

"Was that a compliment, Black?" he leaned back to look up to silver eyes. "Because if you were to stop being a child and a dunderhead yourself, you'd also feel that degrading other dunderheads while grading them will be a recreation all on its' own."

"Yeah, well, too bad I'm not a dunderhead, huh?"

"So you say, though in my standards you're still one."

"Your standards only stand in potions, Snape," Sirius scoffed. "If it were in pranking, you'd be the dunderhead."

"As if," Severus scoffed back. "I'm brilliant in pranking."

"Complimenting yourself, Severus?"

"Complimenting yourself, Sirius?"

They stared at each other, daring the other to make the next move. Sirius narrowed his eyes in challenge.

"How about we determine whose pranks is the best, hm?"

"To see who has the most ingenious prank?"

"To see who makes the most interesting, and amusing pranks?"

"You're on."

"You're gonna regret it," Sirius grinned.

"Oh? What, afraid to lose, Siri?"

"I'm more afraid of what I'm going to do when _you_ lose, Sev."

"As if."

"Winner can do anything to the loser, deal?"

"Anything?"

"Anything."

"Deal," Severus smirked, mirroring Sirius'. "Prank war starts next week."

"Next week it is, then," Sirius nodded, leaving to do his nightly ablutions. Severus watched him disappear into the bathroom, not noticing the smile he had on his face. He'd never felt so free, and when he looked at the red ink that was splattered across the pile of summer homework, he decided that a prank war was far more interesting and freeing than grading.

None realized that they'd called each other by their given names.

* * *

"Harry," Tom called when he saw him walk alone in a corridor after lunch break.

"To--Professor Marvolo," Harry said, his eyes lighting up. "What is it?"

"I need to talk to you," he said, nodding towards an unused classroom. "In private."

"Umm, alright," the younger wizard nodded. Once Tom had warded the door with many spells and charms that it was nearly impenetrable, Harry asked, "What do you want to talk about?"

"Your mind healing sessions," he said, straight to the point.

"Oh, um... when are we gonna do it, and where?" Harry asked.

"I was hoping that you'd come to my chambers and we can do it there privately. Sometime after dinner would suffice, if that's alright?"

"Oh, sure!" Harry nodded with a small smile. Tom's face softened, and he himself sported a smile at the appearance of a rare smile on Harry's face. Well, rare nowadays after the rescuing incident.

"Good," Tom nodded back, then opened his arms. Seeing the offer, Harry walked right into his embrace and sighed as those strong arms enveloped his smaller body. It was always comforting when Tom hugged him like this, as if he was telling him that he still wanted him. He'd sometimes feel insecure, and the dark thoughts and suggestions of no one wanting to be with him, not even Tom, would crawl up into his mind, and all he would need was a hug from Tom and everything would be all right. As long as he had Tom, he was happy.

He felt a kiss being pressed on top of his head and smiled. He'd never gotten many kisses before, until Tom came along. He'd get showered with kisses when he'd least expect, especially when they're alone. "But I thought you're sharing chambers with Professor Lupin?" Harry asked, accepting the comforting kisses.

"Ah yes, about that," Tom pulled back a little to look at his face. "He also wants to talk to you about... something."

"You sound like you know what he's gonna talk about." Tom just smirked. Harry huffed and leaned into him until his forehead was pressed onto Tom's shoulder. They spent a long time basking in each other's presence until Harry eventually sighed. "I need to go to class."

"Alright, then," Tom reluctantly let him go. "Study hard, alright?"

"Mm," the younger wizard nodded, and got up. He then walked quickly towards the door and left. Tom stayed on his knees, dumbfounded. He hadn't yet taken down his wards... how did Harry go through such heavy wards so easily?

* * *

It was a week later that everything suddenly became interesting. The first thing that indicated something was wrong was when Harry sat in the Great Hall, and saw a few of his friends eat breakfast, and they immediately turned pink and blue all over. He noticed that it wasn't just the Gryffindors that suffered, but the whole of Hogwarts. The Headmaster's arms were suddenly transformed into chicken wings with green and gold feathers, a few Ravenclaws suddenly sprouting new appendages, the Hufflepuffs were suddenly floating, and the Slytherins... were hysteric, what with many of them getting their hair transformed into something akin to a lion's mane, some had fangs, and a few... were turned into an animal.

Harry wasn't at all hungry that morning, so he had only sipped at some pumpkin juice, and even then he ended up with fox ears and tail.

"You're going to pay for this, Gryffindorks!" a Slytherin shouted.

"Wasn't us!" the twins said as they happily watched everyone turn into something interesting, while they themselves were sporting... are those tentacles?

"Then who?!" a Hufflepuff cried.

"These are too complex a prank... must be the teachers?!" a Ravenclaw accused.

"We did no such thing!" Professor McGonagall cried indignantly.

"You know what this means?" Fred asked.

"This-" George.

"Means-" Fred.

"War!" the two laughed manically and the whole place was in chaos. The Headmaster had tried to do something, but was quickly overruled by almost everyone accepting the prank war. Harry just ducked under the Gryffindor table and kept on sipping his juice, humming. This is becoming very interesting... and fun!

Too bad the fun had to be cut short due to classes.

...

Or so they all thought.

* * *

Harry's fox ears and tail haven't disappeared, and it was time for Potions class. Professor Lupin and Madame Pomphrey were the only ones that didn't seem to be targeted by the students and teachers. Even Snape wasn't spared! Harry's ears perked up when he saw the Potions Master sporting bat wings protruding from his back.

"That git's really become a dungeons bat!" Ron snickered, his skin now a purple and green colour while his hair was an obnoxious shade of red.

"I think he's now become a vampire!" Harry nodded in amusement.

"But vampires are supposed to be handsome and beautiful!" Ron argued.

"Maybe," Harry shrugged.

"Today you'll be making a rather volatile potion that I've developed myself a few years ago," Snape said, waving his hand so that instructions were now written on the board. "Despite being volatile, you will be working alone. I expect that you finish within the hour."

Harry looked up to the board and saw that it was called the Beautification Potion that they talked about in their previous session. As the name suggests, it was a potion to make others become beautiful, but with the side-effect that if brewed incorrectly, the results would be unpredictable. Harry moved quickly to prepare the ingredients, and started the fire.

Everyone worked quietly and concentrated on making the potion correctly, hoping that they could get a sample of them once done. The ingredients used were rare, and to buy it in a beauty shop costs far too expensive. They were all determined to make the potion a success.

Snape walked around, careful to not let his wings get in the way. He nodded in approval when he saw everyone working diligently and was for once doing something productive. As he passed Harry's cauldron, someone threw a salt rock into his cauldron, which caused the potion to bubble up. Snape turned around at Harry's gasp, and was able to erect a shield around both of them before the cauldron exploded.

Surprised, everyone looked at the two, drenched with the lavender-coloured potion. "Aguamenti!" Hermione said, pointing her wand towards the two in hopes to wash off the potion, but was surprised when said substance hardened instead. "Someone, get Madame Pomphrey!"

"But we can't just leave our potions like this!" a Gryffindor said.

"Then put a stasis cha--" Her words were abruptly cut off when the door suddenly slammed open, and Professor Lupin walked in.

"I heard a loud sound from here, is some..." he then caught sight of the two under a hardened potion substance. "You all keep on brewing, I'll call Madame Pomphrey."

Everyone worked uneasily, sometimes glancing towards the now-rock-like substance encasing their friend and professor. "A potions accident?" Madame Pomphrey walked in. "Oh... my..."

"Yes, now we need to fix them," Professor Lupin said, waving his wand and easily lifting the hardened substance, levitating both student and teacher at the same time.

"This is bad... really, how could he tell them to make this when he knows that this is what'll happen..." the medi-witch mumbled under her breath, taking the whole thing out of the class. "Remus, you watch the class."

"Yes, ma'am," he nodded, looking around the classroom. At least, according to his wolf, many of them were in their last stages, so it wouldn't be for long anyway, and--

Why does he smell Sirius in here?

* * *

Padfoot was taking a stroll, planning on where he could place his next prank. He was just planning on charming a few parts of the floor to make it so that whoever stepped on it would have their feet turned into elephant feet, when the loud bang sounded. Worried, he quickly headed towards where he heard the sound, and stopped in his tracks when he smelled Severus and Harry underneath something icky, being levitated out of the potions classroom by Madame Pomphrey.

Just as he ran after her, he smelled his mate somewhere around--Remus somewhere around the corridor. He was torn between wanting to run after Severus and Harry, or to run towards Remus. After being indecisive for a second, he quickly bounded over to the infirmary. He hid and watched as Madame Pomphrey tried to chip off the substance little by little. Remus walked in with Tom in tow, both looking worried and perplexed at the rock.

"Allow me," Tom smoothly said, placing a hand on Poppy's shoulder. The medi-witch just nodded and stepped away, and Tom started to chant in another language, waving his wand this way and that, until the rock slowly melted, first revealing Severus, taking a deep breath of relief, and followed by an unconscious Harry. Severus growled and mumbled under his breath, something about insufferable brats and dunderheads everywhere, glaring at the limp form of Harry.

Everyone held their breaths at the absolutely stunning potions professor, also known as Professor Snape, dungeons bat, and greasy git. It was as if he'd bothered to clean up and go to a beauty salon or something. His pale skin had a healthy shine to it, and his obsidian orbs were piercing. What's more was his teeth, no longer yellowed and seemingly unkempt, but now a neat row of teeth that was concealed behind pink, full, absolutely kissable lips. His previously lank hair was now soft and fluffy, and longer than before, now reaching the middle of his back.

His crooked nose didn't seem to be as crooked as usual, giving him an aristocratic impression, and his cheekbones were high, his jawlines sharp. His eyebrows were delicate, and the wrinkles he was gaining due to over-frowning seemed to have disappeared. His whole body was hidden underneath his black attire, and his bat wings was a nice touch to the look.

"What're you all staring at?!" he snapped, obviously irritated. With a wave of his hand, he banished the remaining potion on the floor, and got up on wobbly feet. Remus was there in an instant, helping him steady himself. A pang of jealousy coursed through Sirius' chest when he saw the gorgeous potions master lean into his werewolf mate. True, they were supposed to be a triad, but...

Padfoot retreated into the shadows and disappeared from sight, and only then did Remus notice that he was there.

* * *

Harry was breathtaking. And Tom was captivated.

Golden skin, long lashes, messy hair that framed his delicate face oh-so perfectly, fox ears that seemed to fit him despite being the results of a prank, delicate, pouty lips, he was an angel. A fox angel. Tom's creature side was demanding him to claim his perfect, little mate, right then and there, no matter whether or not there was an audience, whether or not his mate was asleep... whether or not he consented...

The last thought snapped him back into reality, and he gathered the unconscious teen within his arms, feeling as if he was holding something--someone precious. His hand brushed away the hair that framed his face, and exposed the lightning bolt scar that seemed to mar this ethereal beauty. He had a hard time controlling himself, but he managed it.

He was far too captivated for the outside world, but as Poppy directed him to place the boy on a bed, he complied. He didn't know for how long he stared at his sleeping mate, but by the time he knew it, nighttime had fallen, and had been for a while now, and that was when vivid green eyes fluttered open, so big for his small face, but so perfectly placed too. "Tom...?" he asked, his voice a beautiful melody to his ears.

"Harry..." he said breathlessly.

"What happened?"

"Potions accident," was the short answer before he kissed him full on the lips. Harry moaned quietly as he explored his warm, wet mouth with his teasing tongue.

"Ehem."

Tom jumped back so suddenly that the chair he was on toppled backwards and he fell. Poppy just raised an eyebrow at him, and he blushed as he got up. "Let me check you over, Mr. Potter. Who knows what other lasting effects the potion had on you."

"Other effects?" he asked.

"Yes, well... Take a look at yourself," she said, giving him a mirror. Curious, Harry took it and looked at himself.

"What's wrong with me?" he asked, confusion clear in his voice.

"You're gorgeous, Harry," Tom smiled. Harry blushed at the praise--a first since the magical backlash incident.

"Th-thank you...?"

"What he meant, Mr. Potter, is that you look more beautiful than before."

Harry blinked. "I'm beautiful?"

"Yes," she nodded, and then cast a diagnosis spell. "The potion that blew you blew up had the effects of enhancing one's beauty, and it seems to work on both you and Professor Snape too."

"What..."

"You had a potions accident, Harry," Poppy said simply, reading the diagnostic results and nodded. "Nothing else is wrong with you, but I'd suggest you stay here for the rest of the night. You should get some sleep too, and no more funny business, I'm warning you, Riddle!" she said as she walked away, glaring at Tom on the way out. Once she was gone, they both breathed out a sigh.

"So..." Tom cleared his throat. "You're alright?"

"I feel fine," Harry nodded.

"That's... good." An awkward silence ensued. "So, uh, well, you should, you know, go to sleep now."

"Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?" Harry asked.

"Oh, I don't know, Harry," he said, seeing Harry's big, expressive eyes sadden. "Sleeping on the chair is a bit uncomfortable, but sleeping on the bed with you seemed a bit... inappropriate, don't you think?"

"Please?" he begged, and Tom finally conceded.

"Alright, but don't blame me if something happens, alright?"

Harry's eyes brightened at that, and he scooted towards the edge of the bed. Tom stopped him and lifted the blankets, laying down and pulling Harry on top of him. Harry was surprised and pleased as the position had prevented him from falling, and also sleep comfortably close to his soulmate. He snuggled into Tom's chest and breathed in deeply, feeling sleep creep up on him quickly.

"Go sleep, Harry."

"'Night Tom."

"Good night, Harry."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last part was a bit rushed, but I guess it's alright... right? Ten more minutes to midnight and I haven't studied yet O.O I'll go sleep now... and hopefully not wake up... 12 hours till Calculus exams... Oh eff..... Imma go turn on History of the world I guess by Bill Wurtz now (what? It's fun to listen to... and my big sis and I have practically memorized it by now XD)
> 
> \---- To be continued --
> 
> 18/08/2017: Edited mark goes here.


	15. Plan Or Plot?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A small note here: I spent the whole night listening to History of the world, I guess, and I somehow only didn't do 1 problem in my calculus exam. The thing about it is, that as long as you master trigonometry and calculus 1 and such, calculus 2 is... umm, like physics. It's derived from calculus 1. All of it. And if you're having some troubles with said subject, I found this link very helpful: tutorial.lamar.math.edu (or something like that. S/he made all these equation list that I read once this morning and I was like "This is from calculus 1 tho???" and despite that, I didn't know Mac Lamar (or something)... Thank you for your support too!
> 
> Okay, enough of my life, let's get going with the next chapter... Enjoy~

Fred and George giggled as they saw Draco Malfoy's hair turn red and twist upwards, making it look as if he heard horns. They high-fived to each other and quickly made their escape, not wanting to get caught pranking even though the whole school was in a prank war. It was fun, and it drove the Headmaster crazy. Just the other day, someone pranked his clothes to be invisible, with the exception of his hideously pink and yellow underwear... Well, that was an image that they didn't want to think about. Ever.

Professor Lupin was an evasive person, and no one had yet managed to prank him yet. They discussed on how to prank him, and decided to get Harry's help, with the Marauder's map and all. Too bad the professor would usually disappear once or twice a month, and it was nearing that time. It was suspicious, but the twins didn't care, even if he were a bloodthirsty vampire or a feral werewolf--they only want to prank others, and as long as they're prankable, that's enough.

They nodded to each other, after a very long discussion of how and when and where they'd prank the elusive teacher, and was about to get out of the hidden alcove they were in, until they heard someone muttering something that sounded very, very suspicious to no one in particular. Quietly edging to the entrance to the alcove, they found their own sister pacing around, looking as if deep in thought.

"...no, that didn't work... he's with him, though... what's their... no, no, no, they can't... I won't let them..."

Their little sister, who had green and yellow skin and silver hair which made her look funny, had a crazed shine to her eyes that made the two think about how muggles used to describe witches, like the squid witch from that mermaid story. Their eyes widened when their sister stopped abruptly as if in realization, and grinned. She was more like Bellatrix Lestrange then than the woman herself was.

"Yes... that could work..."

And off she goes. It was worrying the two brothers, and they looked at each other. Fred frowned and sent George a questioning look, and he answered by shaking his head. They left the alcove with something new to think about--or rather, someone. Someone with the initial 'Ginerva Weasley'.

* * *

The Great Hall was unusually filled with students that morning, everyone whispering about the potions accident that rendered the Potions Master himself unable to attend the rest of his classes. Rumors had it that he'd become a real, bat-like creature, with circles under his eyes, his scowl far more pronounced, his teeth replaced by fangs, and so on. That was why when said Potions Master entered the Great Hall alone, his robes giving him a regal air about him, everyone was immediately silent, eyes glued to the now extremely hot and handsome man.

The long hair had been brushed back and was tied at the nape of his neck, thanks to Sirius' teasing. All of his wardrobe was then resized to fit him snugly, hugging him at all the right places, and he even had some spell that allowed the bat wings to look somewhat leathery. His piercing obsidian eyes made it difficult for many to avert their eyes--they were captivating and...

"What're you looking at?" he snapped, making everyone shake their heads and try to eat their breakfast. Severus sighed as he sat on his chair, grumbling about going to cut his hair sometime later.

"Wow, Severus, you look... wow..."

"Not you too, Minerva," he groaned irritably, feeling stressed from all the attention he was getting. It was uncomfortable to be admired so openly, he rather liked people cowering before him in fear of what he might do in detentions.

"Don't worry," Lupin placed his hand on his shoulder as he sat next to him, his kind amber eyes making him feel shy. It was always like this, every time their eyes meet, he'd get a strange flutter in his heart that made him feel embarrassed and shy, and he found out back when they were still in Hogwarts together, that he was attracted to the werewolf. That night when he was nearly attacked by the wolf, he'd felt strangely arou--

No, he wasn't going to go there, not anymore.

"This is just a phase, it will pass," Lupin's words snapped him from his musings.

"And you sound so certain of it," he snorted, going back to his food. His eyes swept through the Great Hall, taking note of any mischief done under his watch. He was amused that Sirius would prank others using colours and animal limbs additions and such. Very uncreative... But then again, he might've done something so common to initiate the prank war--if that were so, then his biggest prank would be the prank war itself.

And with that thought, he pouted inwardly, thinking that he might've lost. But then an idea started up in his head, and he smirked. He didn't notice the many students that saw the dark smirk and shudder in pleasure, but Lupin did, and he narrowed his eyes.

"Do you have time tonight?" Lupin asked, eyes on his food.

"Making a move already, Lupin?" Severus raised an eyebrow. "I've only been like this for less than 24 hours, and you're already asking me out?"

"You know that's not what I mean!" Lupin sputtered, the blush that appeared on his cheeks seemed so adorable... "Then again, I haven't even told you what I wanted to talk about!"

"Oh? And that is?"

Lupin's eyes narrowed, and he said, "I'll tell you... later."

"And here I thought you're a Gryffindor."

"And here I thought you're a Slytherin."

The two stared at each other for a while, before Severus scowled and went back to his food, where Lupin rolled his eyes and also went back to his food.

* * *

Harry rushed to the Charms classroom, seeing as he'd woken up late and had to rush back to Gryffindor Tower to get the things he needed. He entered just before the Charms Professor entered, and heaved a relieved sigh as he sat down next to Neville, which was the only seat left. The shy boy took one look at him before he blushed, looking away.

"Hey, Harry, where have you been?" Dean asked from his left, his eyes looking him up and down somewhat appreciatively. Harry didn't like his gaze and frowned at him.

"The infirmary. Woke up late," said Harry curtly, his displeasure showing.

"Too bad, then," Hermione stated with a sigh from the chair in front of him.

"Why?" he asked, confusion bleeding into his voice.

"He was... Oh, Harry, he was..."

"He wasn't a greasy git anymore," Dean said with a sigh also.

"Of course he isn't," he said, even more confused. "I thought you wanted to call him the dungeons bat this week?"

"Oh, yes Harry..." Dean said in a teasing tone. "He's certainly the dungeons bat... A very handsome one at that..." Harry crinkled his nose at that statement, his mind supplying him with the Professor Snape that had too big a nose and greasy hair, a frown on his face, his expression dark. Hermione gave out a similar sigh that Dean let out, and Harry was concerned. Why were his friends acting so oddly today?

"You guys are acting weird," Harry shrugged at them and started taking notes.

"You'd act like this too had you been there," Hermione huffed, finally looking back at him, her jaws dropping once her brown eyes settled onto him. Harry looked up when Hermione stopped talking and was surprised at her frozen state.

"Umm, Hermione...?" he asked, leaning forward a little bit to look at her shocked face closely. "'Mione, are you alright? Dean? Nev...?" he asked, looking at his friends for an answer, but Dean only smirked at him, and Neville blushed and looked away from him. "Ron? You're strangely quiet...?"

"Bugger off, Harry," the redhead said to him, clearly upset. Why, he didn't know. His fox ears drooped a little as he found that no one was going to tell him anything. As his eyes turned sad, he didn't notice the class had stopped the lesson altogether, watching him become so sad that they all wanted to comfort him.

"Oh, Harry," Hermione said, and that broke the silence spell that had been casted on everyone somehow, and she moved to hug him. He flinched when her arms came around him, and he was suddenly being ripped off of those somewhat familiar arms.

"Bugger off, Hermione," Dean snarled, pulling Harry onto himself, and Harry started to panic at the unfamiliar hold. Seeing this, everyone moved.

"Don't touch him," Neville said angrily, pulling Harry behind him.

"Or what, Nev?" Seamus said venom dripping from each word.

"Hey, guys--" Harry started, but then everything went downhill.

"As if you could comfort him, Seamus," Hermione said with a sneer that even Malfoy would envy.

"You're scaring him, let him go," a Hufflepuff said, trying to break the crowd of Gryffindors that closed in on Harry, wanting to comfort him yet far too focused on fighting with the others to do so.

"Yeah, you shouldn't be rough on him! Look at how scared he is!"

"Shut up, you don't know what you're talking about!"

"As if you know!"

What happens next frightened Harry so much that he, in a bout of rare, accidental magic, turned into something small enough that he could escape through the gaps his classmates' feet made, making his way to the door and escaping the chaotic place that reminded him of--

\--of when Vernon beat him last time.

He didn't see where he was going, nor what he was even doing. All he wanted was the one person who could give him comfort.

* * *

Sirius laid in Severus' bed, his head buried within a pillow, his hair slightly damp. It was clear that he'd just taken a bath. Severus could actually smell his homemade shampoo on the escaped convict as he listened to the soft snores coming from the man. He took in the skinny frame, probably due to his time in Azkaban, and wasn't surprised that even then, it was slightly muscled, more than he expected. He remembered a time when Sirius had been bigger than him, bullying him, making his hatred towards him known. Oh, how he'd wanted so badly to put him in his place...

But now, seeing him asleep in his pajamas, his hair slightly damp from bathing, using his homemade shampoo and probably soap... It was a bizarre thought, and he should be somewhat repulsed by it, but...

The warning bell rang, and he was pulled out of his thoughts and remembered that he was wanted to grab a few things for the next class. Once done, he looked back towards the sleeping man. Usually, he'd get angry at him for using his bed without his permission, like the first night back in Hogwarts, but right now... He'll let it slide. Turning, he went to get back to his class.

* * *

When Remus got back to his chambers, he wasn't surprised to see Thomas in it. What he _was_ surprised to see was the little black Kitsune with its ears and tails tipped with white fur, practically purring as Thomas stroked its head between its ears. Being a werewolf himself, he knew that it was a very nice feeling to be rubbed at that place.

"Hey, what do you have there?" he asked, taking off his teaching robes and leaving himself in his slightly worn white shirt and black trousers.

"Can't you tell?" Thomas asked with a raised eyebrow, and they noted that the little Kitsune's ears perked up a little before flattening itself onto its head. Remus took a quick sniff in the air and his eyes widened.

"H-Harry?"

There was a whimper from the small Kit and it--he climbed up Thomas' clothes and hid itself--himself under his shirt, his outer robes hung somewhere nearby. "Yes, it's Harry."

"What happened?"

"I'm not sure myself," he admitted. "I was just grading some papers when he ran inside and climb up my lap. We've been like this since then. I suspect that something happened in class that scared him and he accidentally turned into a fox."

"A Kitsune," Remus corrected.

"What?" Thomas looked at him confusedly.

"A Kitsune. When they have multiple tails, they're called Kitsune while a fox only has one tail," Remus explained.

"Ah, I see," Thomas nodded amiably. There was an awkward silence that hung as Harry moved around under Thomas' shirt, and Remus remembered what that felt like, when Padfoot was just a puppy Grim. Back then, they were 15 and were trying to become animagus. He wondered what Severus would be if he were to become an animagi--though he could imagine him being a bat.

His preference to eat fruits might also signalize that he was a fruit bat. Maybe he'd ask him later tonight...

"I see you have something planned?" Thomas' voice startled him from his thoughts.

"Ah, yes, I invited Severus to come tonight."

"What for?"

"We needed to talk," Remus shrugged. Seeing the look on Thomas' face though, he knew that his teaching assistant didn't buy that simple explanation. "Fine, I smelled Sirius back in his classroom."

"Ah..." Thomas nodded. "Escaped convict Sirius Black, or another person named Sirius?"

"The one and only escaped convict."

Thomas hummed. "You sound close to him."

"I was," Remus sighed, a nostalgic look crossing his face before it disappeared. "He's my... you know, mate."

"What will you do once you caught him?"

"Not sure," Remus shrugged. "Maybe interrogate him or something."

"Why?"

"He... well, he marked someone."

"Marked... as in what dogs do to mark their territory?"

"Pfft, no," Remus laughed at the image of Padfoot pissing on the poor redhead girl he marked. "I meant that he marked someone for being... I think it was because she was hostile to someone close to him."

"How do you know?"

"We devised this plan back when we were in school. You know, if someone comes close to finding out about my... condition, or if someone is being particularly nasty and have bad intents towards us or something. As I'm... you know, a werewolf, I could smell who it is."

"Who is it?" Thomas asked, genuinely curious. "You know, the one he marked?"

"Oh that's..." Remus tried to remember her name. "Ah, yes, her name's Ginerva Weasley."

The smile Thomas had then gave him the creeps, and he wondered if he had just sealed miss Weasley's fate.

* * *

"I wonder how you turned into an animagus so suddenly, Harry?" he whispered softly, right into the Kit's ear. Said Kit just mewled and shivered, burying its head into his neck as he laughed quietly. "I wonder if it was that prank, the one that added those fox ears and tail as an extra appendage?" he mused, a finger trailing down the small Kit's spine. "You know, if you want to turn back into a human, you could try to focus your magic and will it to turn you back."

There was only purring for a while as Tom stroked him where it felt the best. Before he knew it, Harry was sleeping soundly, from the sounds of the rather relaxed exhale. His breath tickled his skin, making Tom hiss and shiver in pleasure. He couldn't wait until that breath was... elsewhere.

Gently, he moved to cup Harry's little body against his and went to his bedroom, finding that watching over a sleeping Harry also made him sleepy. He took off his shirt and trousers with one hand and got under the covers in only his boxers. He turned sideways and the sleeping Harry immediately cuddled into him as he slept. Maybe he could talk about his mind-healing later, when they were both awake.

After that, maybe he'd let Lupin talk to him about whatever he wanted to talk about, and maybe Severus would want to talk to him as well. That reminds him... He haven't told Severus what he wanted him to do... Maybe he should do that later also, after Lupin's talk with Harry? Or while? Whichever it is, he needed to tell him his next plan for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it so sudden that there's an animagus thing going on? You guys might've suspected (and yes, you actually did XD) so I'm not gonna lie that this was still in debate when I wrote the last chapter... I mean, there are some things that I wanted to put in this story, and some that I'm debating over whether or not I should put it in, but well, you get what I mean. Today's the last day of exams, and I am very, very relieved! Thank you for all your support, and cookies for all of you! I'm gonna try to make the cookie my... I don't know, but I think she's my dad's friend back when he was still a kid, or neighbor, who knows... she's got this simple peanut cookie recipe, and it only involves roast peanuts (less than half a kilo, she said) all blundered up, then add some sugar and mix, then flour and mix, then add some oil, a lil bit at a time. Then you roll it up and use cookie cutters and place it on a baking tray. Then you use egg yolk to keep the whole thing together, and voila! It's done. Tastes like peanut butter~
> 
> Okay, I'm done for tonight, so yeah. Night people!
> 
> \---- To be continued --
> 
> 7/18/2017 Thank you SushiFerret for pointing out that Kitsune and fox technically means the same thing! XD I completely changed (well, not the first parts) of the talk between Remus and Tom, so if you've read that... you might want to reread it! ;)
> 
> 19/08/2017: Another edit mark here...


	16. Let's Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dunnnn, the (probably) long-awaited talk! Woo~ I don't remember ever having the 'talk' myself, other than when in biology, and even then it didn't really connect to me that two people had to--you know, put it in, until I met yaoi. So in my imagination, if I were to give my children the Talk, it'd be like this.... Enjoy~
> 
> BTW I changed last chapter's talk between Tom and Remus, so... I advise you to check it out!

"Legillimens."

Harry kept still as those red, red eyes gazed into his green ones. He could faintly feel something moving around in his mind and assumed that it was Tom. A headache was beginning to form, and he was overcome with the need to blink, but couldn't due to some sort of compulsion. He briefly wondered if it came with the spell itself and thought that he should ask Tom later--if he remembered.

After a while, he felt Tom's presence in his mind retreating, leaving behind a particularly powerful headache.

"You seem to be healing nicely," Tom said with a smile, returned by Harry's who couldn't help but smile back.

"Thanks, Tom."

"You're welcome," he replied and leaned back, buttoning his shirt back up. Harry remembered how warm and nice it felt to lie down on that hard torso, it was very comfortable. He remembered falling asleep on it and waking up to red eyes watching his sleeping face as if in surprise. "I'm just surprised that the encounter with that Dementor hadn't done any more damage, other than halt the healing process for a moment."

"What? Why would you think that?"

"Because, Harry, Dementors in general damage one's psyche, especially when a person is happy and a dementor is in the vicinity. They feast on people's happiness and could do some damage, especially when they get Kissed by them."

"Kissed?" Harry looked at him, puzzled.

"Yes, Kissed. Dementors eat souls, and they feast upon it by kissing a person." Tom smiled at the horrified look that crossed Harry's face.

"I don't wanna be kissed," the younger wizard mumbled.

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah."

"Then I'll never kiss you again," Tom said seriously, and Harry's eyes widened.

"No! I wanna kiss you!" Harry declared. "But I don't wanna be kissed by those dementors..."

"I'm glad to hear that," and he proceeded to kiss him thoroughly, using his sinfully skillful tongue to play and explore Harry's warm, moist cavern, making the younger wizard's knees go weak. Harry moaned when Tom's tongue caressed a part of his mouth that made him shudder all over, and his stomach felt all tingly, as if he was nervous, or butterflies were flapping its' wings within him.

He could feel Tom's reluctance when he pulled away, leaving a strand of saliva connecting their mouths for a while longer as they panted into each other's faces. "You taste heavenly, Harry," the older wizard whispered into his ear, his breath caressing the shell of his ear, making him dizzy. "Too bad Lupin is waiting for us."

"Huh? What for?" Harry asked, his mind hazy from the mind-blowing kiss he'd recently received.

"Ah... He wants to... talk to you," and with a strange smile on his face, Tom ushered him out of his room and stopped dead in his tracks at the scene that greeted them.

* * *

"Severus," Remus smiled as he opened the door that led to his and Tom's chambers.

"Lupin," Severus greeted. Remus gave him a smile even though he was secretly sad that Severus wouldn't call him by his given name, even though they're colleagues now. Severus looked around the room, warm and cozy, and practically screaming familial and love. He nodded slightly in approval and Remus felt his wolf howl. _'My mate likes my place!'_ was clearly felt by the human side.

As they sat down, the bat wings Severus adorned twitched slightly before it settled, noting that dinner had many fruits mixed in, both dried and fresh. "So what did you want to talk about?" Severus asked once they were seated. Trust Severus to get to the point within a few seconds of being in each other's presence... Well, two can play this game.

"I need to ask you something," Remus said seriously, his amber eyes locking with Severus' obsidian ones. Once he got the go-ahead, he took a deep breath, his nostrils flaring at the smell of want and potions, and somewhere in there, very unnoticeable, but was mixed within the mixture of scents, was the smell of Severus and Sirius.

 _'Just like I thought...'_ Remus closed his eyes before opening them again.

"Have you been in contact with Sirius?"

Severus' eyes narrowed. "And why, pray tell, are you asking me that?"

"I... can smell him on you," he said truthfully. Severus just rolled his eyes.

"Damn wolf nose," Remus heard him mutter. "Yes, I won't deny that I've been seeing Sirius," Remus' eyes widened but Severus didn't notice it, "and if you're about to give him back to the ministry and put him back into Azkaban, then I'm afraid I will not tell you his whereabouts."

"Why?" he asked, trying to keep his cool.

"Why?" Severus stated back, an eyebrow raised. "You ask why, when you've been lovers with that mutt for years, since Hogwarts years!" His eyes flashed defensively, and Remus was confused as of to why he was far more defensive towards Sirius than he himself when he was incarcerated without trial a few years back. "Isn't it obvious...?" he asked in a somewhat sad tone, and Remus' heart felt like it was breaking, all over again.

He closed his eyes, remembering the feeling of his broken heart, as his pack turned against each other and was eliminated by one person. He didn't want to believe that it was Sirius--he was a great friend, loyal and brave and powerful, and funny and overall wonderful... To even think that he was guilty of betraying his pack's cub's biological parents was... It made him think of what if Harry were their cub, biologically? It hurt too much that his lover would do that--but with Peter gone, there wasn't any evidence that he wasn't the one who betrayed them.

"I... apologize for my outburst," Severus coughed, and reached for a napkin to wipe away Remus' tears, ones he didn't realize he'd let go until he felt Severus' touch on his skin.

"No, no, I should be sorry," Remus gave him a watery smile, taking the napkin from his hand to nuzzle into his palm. "I... was inconsiderate towards him... and you too."

"Pardon?"

"I should've told you this before, but James and Sirius, they... disapproved vehemently," Remus said fondly. Severus just looked at him with a lost expression. "You're... uhh, well, you see, you... you might'vebeenmymateandIwantedtotellyoubutcouldn'tandIthinkI'msupposedtosayIloveyouherebut--"

"Slow down, wolf," Severus commanded, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Get to the point." Remus blushed.

"You're my mate."

Severus gave him a skeptical look.

"You are! Okay, see here, I have two mates, one is Sirius and the other is you!"

"And you didn't tell me this back when we were in school, why?"

"Because my pack disapproved of you," he said sadly, quietly.

"Ah, I see," Severus went silent afterwards. It was awkward for some time as Severus nibbled on some fruits while Remus tried to keep his blush under control. The longer the silence stretched between them, the more Remus felt his hope falling through his fingers. He didn't want to only have _one_ of his mates, he wanted both, and as much as it sounded selfish to him, he didn't care.

He cared for both Severus and Sirius, and that's final.

Severus suddenly stood up, and Remus was startled from his inner musings, and amber and obsidian met. The werewolf couldn't decipher what emotion was on Severus' face right now, but he wasn't given much time to think when he was suddenly yanked forward and their lips nearly met. Severus stared right into his eyes and seemed to be searching for something, and when he found it, he leaned forwards and whispered into his ear;

"I'll think about it."

Severus released a heavily blushing Remus and turned to walk out of the room. Heavy silence followed.

"Sorry, did we interrupt something, Professor?" a timid voice asked, and he was surprised to see a horrified and yet blushing Harry in front of Thomas, his green, innocent eyes were wide.

"Ah, Harry, we just--"

Remus glanced at Thomas and he got the message, thankfully. "I need to go on an errand right now, so I'll leave the two of you to it," he said before following Severus out of their chambers. Remus and Harry looked at each other, feeling oddly embarrassed. Merlin, what was his world coming into now?

* * *

He'd just seen his favourite professor and formerly most hated professor kiss each other! Harry's face was a flaming red that could rival the Weasley family's red hair, and his vivid green eyes were looking at anything, anywhere, everywhere, as long as it wasn't his professor whom he'd just caught kissing the dungeons bat. Lupin coughed.

"It's nice to see you're awake, Harry," Lupin smiled somewhat sheepishly. "Sorry you had to see that..."

"No, it's... it's okay, I... just didn't expect... you and Professor Snape to be... you know, an item, and kissing each other, and--"

"Kissing each other?" Lupin looked positively confused.

"Yeah, I mean--what I'm trying to say is... umm, sorry to-to intrude...?"

"No need to feel so," Lupin smiled at him. "We weren't kissing, to rid of that misunderstanding."

"Oh," was Harry's most eloquent answer to that admission. "So... Professor Marvolo told me you wanted to talk to me?"

"Ah, yes, Harry, we do need to talk," Lupin's face turned serious. "I am aware that the two of you are soulmates."

"He told you?" Harry asked, eyes wide.

"Well, sort of," Lupin shrugged. "And that's something that I need to tell you about also." He took a deep breath and let it out, his amber eyes meeting Harry's green ones. "Harry, you do know how babies are made, right?"

Harry nodded. "A man gives a woman their sperm so that it could fertilize their ovum and then the ovum would then develop into a baby, yeah. My biology teacher taught me that." Harry frowned. What has babies to do with their conversation?

"Good to know, but Harry, did you know that wizards could also get pregnant?"

Harry shook his head. "But boys don't have ovums and such, boys have sperms," Harry said confusedly.

"Oh, no, boys can't get pregnant, true, their bodies aren't ready for ovum production yet, but wizards who are of age, who have unlocked their full magical potential could. Their body could produce a sac, in which an ovum resides. If the two have sexual intercourse, then that ovum could become fertilized and the wizard would get pregnant."

"Okay, I get it," Harry nodded amiably, though he didn't know what sexual intercourse truly meant.

"That is why, you cannot get too intimate with Thomas, alright?"

Harry wondered what 'too intimate' entails, but nodded anyways. Maybe if he asked Tom or Snape, he could get some sort of enlightenment.

"And even if you do consent to doing intimate stuff, please do remember to use protection, alright?"

Harry nodded again, once more not understanding what kind of protection he'd need from Tom for being 'too intimate' and he consented. He'd ask Tom later when he could. "Why are you telling me this?" he asked, and he saw something flicker within the professor's amber eyes before those same eyes gained a distant look to them.

"Because I know that your parents would love to tell you this themselves," he chuckled with a sad tone in his voice.

"My parents? You knew my parents?" Harry asked, eyes sparkling at the notion of knowing more about his parents, other than that he looked like a carbon copy of his father, but with his mother's green eyes.

"Oh, yes, of course I knew them," Lupin nodded. "Your father and I, and two others were a group, you see..."

And so began Lupin's tale of the Marauder days. He kept Harry's enthusiastic attention until the two eventually tired themselves out and fell asleep with smiles on their faces, still sitting whatever they were sitting on when they started talking.

* * *

"Tom," Severus greeted when he saw the familiar figure of the Dark Lord walk up to him.

"Severus," Tom nodded. Severus caught a glint within his master's eyes, and knew instantly that they knew who'd gifted Harry with the enchanted object.

"Come," Severus said, beckoning the Dark Lord to follow him to his chambers. They had some plotting to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, quick question, in your opinion, what grade is a failing grade? 'Cuz all this time I never thought that a D is one, let alone a C. My dad told me to retake the courses that has those two grades on them and I am beyond... stressed? Angry, more like. And also, I think that the Talk was particularly anti-climatic, so I don't wanna comment on that... Plus I'd just heard that there'd be an orgy if I were to go to heaven, so I'll stay in hell, thanks. (Sorry, I'm a bit genophobic when it comes to RL sex and stuff. Plus, I thought the ones to go into heaven would be saints... huh.)
> 
> So, did you enjoy this chapter also? ;)
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	17. Severus' Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a few nights ago, I got bored. This is the result of that particular trip to Boredom Kingdom: https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=manga&illust_id=63964243  
> Hope you like it :)
> 
> And also, thank you everyone for making me see sense... ^...^" Maturity is something I lack immensely in the real world O...o I couldn't really see why my dad insisted me on retaking those courses, except to open more doors of possibilities for me to choose from. And the orgy thing was something I heard randomly that I just HAD to write, so please don't mind that also. Nevertheless, thank you for all your comments and kudos and thank you for reading up 'till this point, no worries it's not the end yet, so let's get on to this chapter! Enjoy!

Severus really wanted to sigh. He'd spent the whole night plotting with Tom and Sirius on how to get the Weasley girl incarcerated, or at the very least tortured by them, without having to raise the Wizarding World's suspicions nor Sirius' Black family heritage. After all, almost all the Blacks are in Azkaban, and the ones out of it didn't have any of those skills.

"Mr. Finnegan! Ten points from Gryffindor for not following the steps properly!"

"But sir--"

"It's _chopped_ coconut roots, not _slivers,_ " he snapped, banishing the whole cauldron. Really, do these dunderheads ever learn from their past mistakes?! A single wrongly prepared ingredient could destroy the whole castle if not for the protective charms most cauldron makers cast around the cauldrons they make. "Twenty points from Gryffindor for back talk!"

Now, where was he... Right, how to get Miss Weasley incarcerated and possibly tortured without showing their cards... If only they could get more than enough evidence against her, then maybe, just maybe.... But then again, she's underage. Which means that the ones incarcerated and fined would be her parents and she'd be sent to the Wizarding World's equivalent to a juvenile school. Great.

"Mr. Crabbe, Mr. Goyle, what did I tell you about fire temperatures in potions making?! I wrote high heat, not medium!" he snapped, leaving a few Slytherins gaping at him--well, at least their version of gaping. They did look a bit shocked. He continued on walking around class, his eyes critically searching for any anomalies in the dunderheads people call students' potions.

But then again, he'd also seen the Weasley twins' and the youngest Weasley son watching their sister from afar, maybe they suspected something? It's possible for him to get their hel--cooperation. Besides, he wanted something in exchange for the Weasley twins using his potions classroom for prank tests... and for Ronald's many potions accident. At least the Weasley daughter is quite adept at potions making. Almost perfect in every potion made, even if she's only a second year.

"Mr. Potter!" he snarled, making the Potter heir jump. "What did I say about watching where your hair go when making potions? Of course you weren't listening then, hm? Fifty points from Gryffindor for not paying attention to class! And Mr. Potter? Detention tonight, right after dinner!"

"Yes sir," he grumbled, glaring at the potions master. Severus just sniffed and walked away after banishing the potion in his cauldron. Shame, it was a perfect shade of orange too.

He wondered briefly on why the Potter heir was in Lupin's chambers last night, and blushed when he realized that from where he was standing, it'd seem to him that he was kissing the werewolf! Well, at least his back was to the students, so none of them saw his blushing face.

"Time's up, bottle your potions and place it on my desk," he said, when he noticed that it was five minutes until the warning bell rang. They all quickly shuffled so that they were out of class as soon as possible, creating many, unnecessary noises that served to irritate him even further. He glared at every single child that came up to his desk to place their potions vial.

Thank god there'd be no more classes for him after this. He stretched his arms high above his head, feeling his wings stretch with him, before he warded and locked the door. He then laid his head on the table and closed his eyes. He also needed to think about his retaliation prank for the prank war, and wondered if the Weasley twins wouldn't mind helping him with his idea...

There weren't any rules on seeking help from others in order to execute their plans, after all.

* * *

"You're late," he snapped once Harry stepped into the classroom for his detention.

"By one second," Harry glared at the potions professor, who only raised an eyebrow at his glare.

"Recreate the potion you failed today for detention. Begin," Snape said, ignoring his comment, which was a win in his mind. Harry quickly made his way to the stores and began recreating the potion. A few minutes into brewing, his mind began to wander. He remembered his first conversation with the DADA professor the other night, and since Snape was kissing him the other night, even if professor Lupin said that they weren't kissing... maybe he knew what professor Lupin was talking about.

"Sir?"

"What is it?" he snapped, his dark eyes not once leaving the paper he was grading.

"Umm, I have a question..."

"Spit it out already," he said as he slashed something on the paper with red ink, glee in his eyes. Harry winced, feeling sorry for whoever made the homework.

"Umm, so Professor Lupin told me some stuff that I don't understand," he started. Snape just glanced at him in response. It gave him confidence to continue. "He told me something about biology, and being intimate and stuff," he saw Snape's shoulders stiffen before he had to focus back on his potion. "I'm not sure I understand what he meant..."

"Focus on your potion first," he said, making Harry nod quickly and duck his head so that he didn't have to see Snape's expression. He really was curious, the words getting 'too intimate' haunted him the whole night afterwards. It was an odd talk.

After bottling up his barely passable potion, Snape motioned him to follow him into his office.

"I'm not sure I understood your question," Snape started once they both were seated opposite of each other, his obsidian eyes looking right into his soul, making him uncomfortable. "You said that Lupin told you something about biology?" Harry nodded. "Explain."

"Umm, well, he asked me if I knew how babies were made..." Snape made an odd face before he schooled his expression into something more stoic. "And I said I did, because Miss Tracy, my muggle biology teacher back in school, taught us about ovums and sperms and such. I know that a guy's sperm fertilizes a girl's ovum, which would then transform into an embryo and then grow into a foetus, which later comes out of the girl's belly to become a baby...

"But then Professor Lupin told me that boys... no, men could get pregnant... something about ovum development...?" Harry frowned in confusion. "And then he said something about fertilizing an ovum by doing this thing called sexual intercourse or something..."

"So you're saying that you're confused about how wizards could get pregnant....?" Snape clarified.

"Yeah, and also what sexual intercourse means," Harry nodded. Snape just looked at him, straight into his eyes, as if reading him. He wondered if wizards and witches could read minds, and if Tom's Legilimency was something like that.

"First things first, about wizards being able to get pregnant," Snape said, pulling Harry out of his wondering mind. "So, you know that children are... a combination between their parents, right?" Harry nodded. "Let's just put it like this, a person has... essence. Essence, like muggle DNA, is a part of oneself, it's something that makes each and every person special. Now, when two people merge their essences together, they create life."

"But... how?" Harry asked, confused.

"Because... because when two or more people give each other a part of themselves, and decided to merge them, then they have the power to create life, to make a baby. Basically one's essence fertilizes the other's, and then the result of that fertilization would be an embryo. Do you follow?"

Harry nodded slowly, the potions master's words making sense.

"Good. Now, in the muggle world, only women could get pregnant. But in the wizarding world, magic could help men get pregnant. It could be by a spell, or a potion, or the men are natural carriers."

"Carriers?"

"Men who could get pregnant without the aid of a potion or a spell," Snape said flippantly, as if it explained everything. It did explain a few things, but not everything. "Now, these men who could get pregnant are special, and a child conceived by natural carriers are stronger magically, according to history. There is also the matter of hermaphrodites and such, but they're so rare that they're practically myths."

Hermaphrodites? Carriers? Magically strong children??? These things were just confusing Harry even more. Snape probably saw his confusion, and so he sighed. "If you don't understand basic things like men being able to get pregnant then the meaning of sexual intercourse will be too much for your mind to handle."

"What?! Why?! But I--"

"Thing like these, you should as Tom."

Harry thought about it. Tom was a great teacher, and he could teach him practically anything, so maybe that was a good idea. Harry nodded and excused himself from the office. He swore he heard Snape sigh as he closed the door, but he ignored it. The potions professor is scary and intimidating, he couldn't have sighed! Nodding to himself, he left the potions classroom in order to search for Tom.

* * *

"I heard you talk to my godson," Sirius glared at the potions master, eyes softening when he saw the tired look on his face.

"I talk to him everyday, especially if he's making some sort of potions making mistake," he snapped back without looking at the escaped convict.

"No, I mean like, giving him the Talk talk."

"Blame Lupin for that," Severus snorted. "He was the one who thought it'd be a good idea to have his first talk to his... cub... to be the Talk talk..."

"Oh, I can imagine that going over so well," Sirius rolled his eyes. "He's probably has already had many conquests before."

"I doubt so," Severus glared at the animagus. "There hasn't been any rumours around talking about the 'Boy-Who-Lived's conquests'," he made quotation marks with his hands.

"Oh yeah?"

"Of course. Plus, his soulmate is Tom, so I bet the first and only one that's going to be his 'conquest', as you say it, will be him... though I'm not too sure about that."

"They've kissed too many times for them to not have gotten third base," Sirius snorted bitterly.

"Whatever you say, Sirius," Severus shrugged. There was a sort of comfortable silence between them until Sirius decided to break it once more.

"So you went to Remus' place yesterday, I noticed."

"Yes I did."

"So you know."

"About what?"

"Umm... Our threesome mate thing..."

"Hm, yeah, I do know."

"So what do you think?"

Severus pondered about it for a moment. He wouldn't deny having an attraction towards the werewolf back when they were in Hogwarts as students, and to be honest, even now he was attracted to him. But Sirius, he just... made him feel something else, something different. As if he wanted to completely put him in his place. He gave Sirius a once-over.

The escaped convict was skinnier than before, a little bit more filled than when they met after the whole rescuing the Potter heir, sure, but still skinny enough for his clothes to be hanging off of his shoulders. There was a haunted, slightly crazed look in his eyes, though being near dementors almost constantly would do that if it went on continuously for years. His black, shoulder-length hair was soft, meaning that he'd just taken another bath earlier, probably when Harry had his detention. His grey eyes were downcast, as if he was waiting for something.

He looked nervous. Well, he was waiting for something, his answer to be exact, but it's not like he'd give it anytime soon.

"I think..." he drawled, making Sirius look up and into his eyes. Then he saw it; the insecurity that lay beneath the haunted look, the cheerful personality he always show to the world, and the worry that made the insecurity show was endearing to him, for some reason. "I think that I'd like to give it a chance."

The hopeful look on the escaped convict's face fell, and he knew why he was nervous and insecure. He didn't want to share his werewolf. Well, news flash, both the werewolf and the mutt, were _his._ And he didn't share.

"I think I'd like to give us three a chance, starting with you," he reached out and grabbed Sirius by his collar, pulling him for a long, deep, passionate kiss. "You probably don't want me, Black, but I won't ever deny that I've felt an attraction to you, to both you and Lupin."

When Sirius opened his mouth, probably to protest, he kissed him once again. The escaped convict fell forward after that kiss, and Severus manipulated his moves until they were sat on his office chair with Sirius straddling his thighs.

"Don't you ever think about leaving me, or Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, because I, if not we, will never, ever let you go," he whispered against his mouth, his obsidian eyes gleaming with an odd flicker as he stared into Sirius' grey ones. The insecurity fell into confusion, before turning into defiance.

"You think I'd let you?"

"Well, considering how you treated me back when we were Hogwarts students..."

"Never," Sirius growled, this time it was him who initiated the possessive, demanding kiss. Severus closed his eyes, enjoying the kiss thoroughly. Oh, how many nights had he dreamt of kissing Sirius like this? He smirked against that plundering mouth.

"Good."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the long delay, family problems continue, taking a turn for the worst (at least for me) and I just wish that dad isn't so busy he doesn't have time to go to the hospital... :( And I also couldn't make much sense of this chapter, tbh, so I rewrote it so many times and even now I don't feel like it's supposed to be like... this.... Hmm... As always, thank you for reading! XD
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	18. Just Give Me A Hint!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep getting tired... And I also keep getting bored (how else am I writing this fanfic this much?) Hmm... If I were to open a café somewhere, I'd like to make lotsa cookies! (Idk where that came from...) Also, anyone know Diva Dance from the Fifth Element? I sorta listened to Jane Zhang singing it and, well, I'm impressed. Very much so... You can look it up in youtube if you'd like, it's just a suggestion from me :D Anyways, enjoy~

Harry had not had the chance to talk to Tom after meeting with Snape. He'd been either surrounded by paperwork (assignments, essays, and all those other things that look suspiciously like love letters from his muggle school, but he didn't know for sure) or he was surrounded by students, mostly female students. It seemed like every single female student has turned into another Hermione when in Tom's presence, and while odd and frustrating, he couldn't blame them for wanting to get more knowledge from his Tom.

But they were hogging all of his free time, and he was getting more and more frustrated and dejected the more he couldn't get any one-on-one time with him. Furthermore, Fred and George were suspiciously absent from breakfast today, and he didn't like what it entails. After a few minutes of pushing food around on his plate, he mumbled an excuse so that he could get to Herbology faster. Neville, after finishing his breakfast with pumpkin juice, tagged along with him.

"Hey, Harry, why do you look so sad?" he asked once they were outside the Great Hall.

"Nothing," he pouted. Then a thought came to him, Snape had only suggested that he ask Tom, but that doesn't mean that other people didn't know... right? That's a thought... "Hey, Nev--"

Harry stopped abruptly when he noticed his friend, his _guy_ friend, now had shoulder-length hair. Furthermore, he looked... almost looked like... a... girl....?

"What is it Harry?"

"Umm..." he tried to find the words to convey his confusion. "You... erm... you're...."

"Harry!" Both Harry and Neville jumped in surprise when Harry was squished between two redheads, who looked similar to Ginny, but older--the same long, bright red hair, soft face with a mischievous smile, and--noticeably huge and soft chests in which he was pressed against.

"F-F-Fred??? George?!" Neville exclaimed, surprised.

"Nopes!"

"We're-"

"Frederica and-"

"Georgina!"

"At your service," the former boys bowed low, and with the top three buttons of their shirts open, showed off their cleavage.

"You're a--"

"You're girls?!" Harry asked with surprise clearly evident in his voice.

"Yep!" they chorused happily. "And seems like you too, Nev," Fred teased, and George cooed at the ex-male. Well, the other ex-male.

"You're cute too!" George winked at him--her? Now it was getting confusing for Harry. Then there was a shrilly scream from somewhere inside the castle, possibly the Great Hall, because following the scream were more of them.

"This is a prank, isn't it," Harry deadpanned.

"Of course it is!"

"From yours truly..."

"And Snape too, of course!" they ended together, smiling in glee at their dumbfounded faces.

"Snape?!" the two younger Gryffindors said together.

"The same greasy dungeons bat--"

"--who is not so greasy now, but--"

"--still hated potions professor???"

Fred smiled that mischievous smile and stage-whispered at his--her???--brother--sister???--twin, "Look, Georgina, they're dumbstruck that it's so cute!"

"I agree, Ricka," George winked at her. Then, they heard the same shrilly scream they heard from the Great Hall, and along with it, another redhead with a murderous expression on his... her face.

"FRED, GEORGE, I KNOW YOU'RE THE ONES BEHIND THIS!" she screamed, not unlike Molly Weasley when someone had hit the wrong nerve at the wrong time.

"Uh-oh...."

"Gotta go lil' lions!"

"See ya!"

And then, as fast as they appeared, they were gone.

"Damnit!" the redhead, who they concluded was Ron, cursed as she arrived to find no twins in the vicinity. "Bloody hell!" she screamed angrily. Ron, in her girl form, was quite pretty, if he didn't say so himself. She still had his blue eyes, but the shape of her eyes were sharper around the edges, and her hair was wild, in contrast to Ginny's hair, and quite long too. Unlike the twins, and like Neville, she didn't have big soft chests, so Harry was sure that Ron hadn't fully turned into a girl. Or maybe she develops later? Who knows.

"Ron, wait!" Harry turned and was similarly gobsmacked at the sight of a man, inches taller than even Ron, with angular jaws and a natural five o'clock shadow that accented his muscular neck, and seemingly toned body, if the tight-fitting clothes were anything to go by, and with a Hermione-esque hair that only gives him a more badass look. He was handsome, incredibly so, and if not for the skirt, he'd be convinced that this guy was someone that stepped out of a girl's model magazine, or some guy from Aunt Petunia's telly show.

"M-Mione...?" Harry squeaked in surprise. Really, the skirt was a bit disturbing. And disturbingly short too.

"Harry!" he said in a soft, deep voice. So like Hermione. "How come you're not a girl?" he asked, a frown marring his handsome face. "You didn't eat breakfast, did you?" she narrowed her eyes at him, making him shift from foot to foot.

"Wasn't hungry, that's all," Harry mumbled sullenly.

"Harry," he sighed. "You know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right? And we need it to get through the day, to have nutrition in you for the rest of the day so that you can pass your OWLs and NEWTs! And not just that, lack of food causes lethargy and you can't learn anything if you keep falling asleep in classes!" he rambled on. His handsome exterior had been shattered, in Harry's eyes, as he kept on and on _and on,_ ranting about the importance of breakfast as Ron fumed silently beside him, and Neville finding this information insightful, listened to him.

The day passed fairly uneventfully, despite the surprise of becoming the opposite gender in the morning so suddenly. What surprised everyone the most was how... _beautifully sexy_ Snape was in female form, and the bat wings just gave her a devilish charm, and the older boys were talking about how they'd love to be with a dominatrix like her... well, previously boys now turned girls, really.

Harry had laughed when he found Draco Malfoy with long hair and quite the curvy body, even at this age, act normally as if he hadn't been turned into a she. That also led to bathroom mistakes, but everyone tolerated that, because the only one unaffected was Harry. Dumbledore had become an old woman with something like a saggy face which made him feel somewhat weary, and Luna...

Well, Luna just looked like Luna.

Blaise Zabini had become an exotic beauty, with the right curves at the right places, and being tall to boot. Her hair was short, though that must be because he tied it back, not like he used to as a guy, where he tied it at the nape of his neck, but into a ponytail, a short ponytail. What made him laugh, however, was when he saw Crabbe and Goyle--they looked the same as the time when they were guys. Pudgy, and round, and... well, not like a girl.

There were a few others, like Hermione and McGonagall, and surprisingly, the Greengrass sisters, who turned into handsome men. The others were mediocre, to him at least. What surprised him the most... well, who surprised him the most, to be exact, was Tom. He became a stern-looking, but also seductive-looking teacher, and his scaly bits on his face only amplified her sexiness, and now all guys and girls were in love with him... her.

It made his blood boil when he heard a few girls (previously guys) talking about "fucking around with her", and he instantly hated the prank. Tom was his, and his alone, and no one plays around with him, unless that person was Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived! Though when he saw Tom flirting back with them, he felt his heart break a little. He took a deep breath, and then exhaled it.

No, this was just a shock to everyone, and it has only been one day since everyone had become their opposite genders... so he guessed it's alright. It _should_ be alright, but he was feeling moody and dejected before, and even more so now. Just as he was lathering soap all over his body that night, the bathroom door opened, and someone squeaked in surprise. Harry just turned to see Dean, Seamus and Ron with their toiletries.

It wasn't an unusual occurrence, so he paid it no mind. But the three girls, they found it slightly disturbing, a guy showering in the same place a three other girls are showering. They decided that it wouldn't be wise to let him sleep in the boy's... girl's? Boys turned to girls' dorms tonight. They left once again in search of McGonagall.

* * *

"You're kicking me out of Gryffindor dorms?" Harry asked in surprise. "But... but why...?" He didn't want to admit it, but inside, he was close, very close, to crying. Did his housemates don't like him anymore?

"Harry," McGonagall said, his voice deep and gravelly, his eyes softly gazing at the boy in front of him. "You can't be in the same dorm as girls, whether they're really girls, or boys turned to girls, it's just not appropriate."

"But... they're my friends, and boys and girls aren't too different from each other, right?" Harry asked, pleading with his eyes to not be kicked out of the dorms.

"Harry, boys and girls are different... anatomically. We can't risk letting you stay in a place where this kind of chaos is raging, it's just... not... we're trying to protect you from any untoward behavior. It's just not morally correct."

"But..."

"Come on, now, Harry, I'll lead you to your new, temporary rooms... just until everyone's got their true genders back?"

Harry just stared at him, and then to his housemates, and then to the floor. He gave an almost imperceptible nod before following McGonagall to wherever his new quarters were. Once alone, he warded the door to his chambers quite heavily, and then looked around. The place was spacious. _Too_ spacious. And he was alone. And currently, that was how he felt; alone. He had basically been kicked out of his own dorms by his own Head of House!

_Nobody truly likes him anymore._

He choked back a sob, going to one corner where he could see everything, but was also secluded from the rest of the room--the rest of the world, and then he finally let his tears fall.

_He'd been rejected by his own housemates--he's unwanted... an unwanted freak, just like Aunt Petunia said he was. And she was right. Not even Tom wanted him, he had other things, other people, to take care of... Why did he ever think that he was special? Or was it_ because _he was special that he was unwanted...?_

He hugged his knees and rocked himself back and forth, wanting to find comfort from the simple action. It was how he retained his sanity in that cupboard. But this time, no comfort came, and he sat there, staring blankly at the floor, tears falling freely, until he finally fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made this just for laughs--how did it end so sadly?
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	19. Touch Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What kind of title is that? Ha. I've been watching let's plays and most of them are horror (currently watching ManlyBadass playing The Letter, I like the graphics.) Now I've got a migraine and I just want to (you guessed it) sleep. I should go to a doctor and ask why I keep sleeping a lot... (Doctor: You're just being lazy, and a hermit too :P)
> 
> Anyways, new chapter! Enjoy~

"Severus! Severus! Come quick, this is an emergency!"

Severus grumbled under his breath, something about people and their lack of time sense. Really, who the hell would call him at 2 AM? Sitting up on his bed, he looked at the open doorway, light spilling from the common room of his chambers. In the middle of it, stood a woman, three inches shorter than him with wild hair and crazed, gray eyes. His breath hitched, thinking that somehow, Bellatrix had gotten into his chambers.

But the woman seemed to be... saner...? And looked less like Bellatrix and Andromeda, but more like... "Sirius?"

"Severus! I lost my--" she stopped short of what could've been a long rant in panic. "You're a girl too?" Severus just smirked in response. "Oh, haha,  _really_ funny. This is your prank?"

"You think?"

"How many House Elves had a heart attack when you asked to dose their cooking with your prank potion?" she said sarcastically.

"None," Severus said coolly, leaning onto the headboard of his bed.

"What? I don't believe you," Sirius narrowed his eyes.

"Well, believe me, because I wasn't the one who asked the House Elves."

"You had an accomplice?!"

"Accomplices."

"No fair!" she pouted, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "No one told me that we can't have accomplices!"

"You didn't ask," Severus just shrugged. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to have some shut-eye before dealing with dunderheads tomorrow." The potions professor just laid back down and closed her eyes. After a moment, she heard the telltale yip of a dog and felt the bed dip, and a furry body pressed against her, its nose firmly lodged between her ample bosom. Severus just rolled her eyes at Sirius' antics, but draped an arm over the canine and pressed it to her firmly.

Their change in relationship had also changed their sleeping arrangements, although Sirius it seems, was still not ready to sleep on the same bed as her in her human form. Once again, the potions professor closed her eyes and sleep came easily this time.

* * *

Minerva was a very logical person, at least she thought so. And the other professors agree too, especially Dumbledore. So she didn't understand why everyone was glaring at her for Harry's actions. Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, Ginerva, and almost all the other Gryffindors stood in front of Harry's room, in which she, admittedly, shoved him into the night before. Now it was morning and class was starting within a few hours, and Harry hasn't even gone out of his room yet. No one could open the door, it was warded far too heavily, and if it was Harry who did it, she didn't know how he knew such complex warding spells.

"Mr. Potter, come out of your room this instant," she said sternly, not liking rebellious actions when it troubles the whole dorm. Due to his antics, none of her other lions would go to class. But even though she used her most stern 'teacher voice', there was no answer from the other side. "Mr. Potter," she knocked again on the door. No such luck. "Mr. Potter, if you're going to hole up in there and sulk all day long, then I won't stop you, but if you're stopping your dorm mates from going to class, then this act stops right this instant!"

"Professor!" Hermione said, her tone tried to hide the anger behind the respect she had for her. But it was futile, her anger showed on her face, and her whole body screamed 'anger'. "Please stop it, you're scaring him!"

Minerva looked at her in confusion. Well, him, but her mind had successfully turned him into her and vice versa for the time being. "Ms. Granger, I do not see how I'm scaring him by telling him to get out of his room." Hermione just rolled her eyes.

"Professor, I assure you that you are scaring him to the point that he doesn't  _want_ to come out of his room."

"If he isn't scared of Severus for disciplining him, then I don't see why he'd be scared of me doing the same thing to him," she said with narrowed eyes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Weasley twins sharing an indecipherable look between each other before turning around to leave the Gryffindor common room. Good, while they're pranksters, at least they had enough common sense to go to class when it's class time.

"Professor Snape's been doing it since he'd first stepped into the potions classroom, and also has, while admittedly sad, a reason. But, what's yours? You've been blissfully ignorant of your Gryffindors all this time, then why are you starting now?" she asked, a challenge in her eyes.

"Don't you talk to me like that, Ms. Granger," Minerva turned towards her, straightening herself to get her full height to intimidate her, which in her male form, it seems, was highly effective. Hermione just glared at her, but her anger had definitely been cowed. "Now if you'll excuse me," she said, balling her hand into a fist and--

* * *

_Bang bang bang_

Harry flinched at the sound, his whole body tense, as if expecting Aunt Petunia's voice to reach his ears. He knew that her words would either be,  _"Get up boy, make us some breakfast!"_ or  _"Get out of there! I know you're doing something freakish!"_ or maybe even,  _"Vernon's here."_ The last one would always make him flinch and tremble badly, because it'd mean that there's a punishment for him dished up for something he'd done, or might not have done.

Who knows when it's Uncle Vernon-punishment. Then again, at least he'd had a warning on that one. He hated it far more when he'd be sweeping the floor for one last house clean, to suddenly be greeted a kick on his back, or a belt, or his broom forcefully taken away, only to land on his body to make bruises and welts everywhere. No, the door banging is much more preferable, thank you very much.

But for some reason, he couldn't move. Even though just a small knock on the door would usually make him scramble for the door, the knowledge that he's in Hogwarts and not at Privet Drive would shackle him to the ground. Hogwarts was supposed to be his safe place, his safe haven, but why is there a banging door still? It was a nightmare.

_Bang bang bang_

Harry curled up into himself even more, even though it should've been impossible. He didn't register the fact that he'd been sitting like that for the whole night, and his back and butt were aching from the cold, and his neck stiff from being in the same position for hours. His eyes were tired, drooping yet not closing, seeing yet unseeing. He wondered why he existed right then, if banging doors scared him.

If the Dark Lord wasn't actually his enemy, but had become his soulmate.

If Professor McGonagall called out to him with such malice in her voice.

If he were to stay for an indefinite time in this room.

He didn't care anymore, he just wanted to stay right there, and not be disturbed. Sometime later, he was jolted awake--he hadn't even noticed that he'd fallen asleep. "Mr. Potter?" His heart stopped cold. He knew that voice, it was the voice that had always ridiculed him, taunted him for not having any talent for something he liked and loved. But it was also the voice that reminded him on what potions he had to take, and when. It was also the voice didn't put him on a pedestal when the rest of the wizarding world did so unconditionally.

He was the voice of normalcy.

But he wasn't normal, he was a freak. An unwanted abomination that didn't have parents like others, that was too special that he didn't deserve to be loved. That the one who was supposed to love him wouldn't even want to love him. He felt numb, numb from everything else, and he stayed that way, ignoring Snape's words, his voice. Normalcy.

How overrated.

* * *

"And he's been in there for how long?" Tom asked, a hint of irritation in his voice. It was a good thing that he was one of the few people that had their changes reversed fairly quickly. He was a girl for only a night, and a few hours. It was amusing at first to see a few girls and guys turn back into their respective genders, and also disturbing since a few of them were wearing skirts too.

"Since last night," Minerva answered, worry evident in his voice.

"And why, pray tell, would he be in there since  _last night?_ " Severus said in his usual silky voice.

"Well, I was worried since the girl's dorm and guy's dorm are now their own opposites, and if he were to stay in the girl's dorm, who knows whom he'd attack, or who'd attack him, and if he were put in the guy's dorm, then those who were previously girls would definitely try to get advantage of him, and we don't want that," he frowned. It was a very logical explanation. Too logical an explanation, if you ask him.

"With all due respect, Minerva, you could've just asked Ms. Granger to share her bed with him. Granted, she's a guy right now, and as you said, might take advantage of Harry, but she's also his friend, and she's the type who'd become extremely loyal to her friends once she'd had them. Seeing as her first experiences in Hogwarts was isolation, it'd be the more logical thing she'd do."

"But I can't let him sleep on the same bed as a girl, even if that girl is currently a guy," Minerva tried to argue, but was starting to see the point in Tom's logic. Tom just raised an eyebrow at him.

"And then you just sicced him into a bedroom of his own without explaining anything to him?"

Minerva gave him a guilty look. Tom just sighed. "But--"

"Think about it, Minerva, you'd just given him the impression that you only wanted to isolate him because he was the only one whose gender wasn't changed."

"I..." Minerva trailed off, hanging his head in shame. "Understood," she said, her eyes now full of sorrow and regret. "I shall... apologize to him."

"Not now," Severus said, eyeing the heavily warded door with distaste. "He's not reacting to our calls, and I don't think that is a good sign." Minerva paled.

"Oh, what have I done...?" he whispered, and if he were back in his original gender, then Tom was more than certain that he'd be fighting tears.

Tom sighed. "I'll try to find a way into the room." And then he was gone.

* * *

"Do sirs be needing anything else from Tess?" the house elf asked, her big eyes hopeful.

"No, but thank you Tess," Tom thanked the school's house elf. The creature popped away, probably back to the kitchens where they'd be doing after lunch clean-up. Tom looked around the room, casting a  _Lumos_ so that he could see where he was going. For a room in Gryffindor Tower, it was quite the dark room, he mused.

"Harry?" Tom called. There was nothing, not even the soft sounds of breath that people usually make. He walked around the room to try an find his soulmate, and felt his heart break at the sight of an impossibly tightly curled up form in a corner, usually green and expressive eyes dull and unseeing. "Harry?!" he asked, softer this time, gentler. He slowly approached the huddled up form in the corner and kneeled down slowly, as if approaching an easily frightened animal.

He didn't even twitch when his hands got closer. He cupped his jaw with one hand and guided his head so that he was face-to-face with him. He didn't respond. Not to his touch, not to his voice, not even a hint of recognition from seeing his face.

"Oh, oh Harry," he whispered, his voice trembling. His other hand stroked the black strands of hair that looked like a bird's nest more than anything, and he leaned forward. Just before their lips touched, there was blast of pure magic, and then he was pinned to the wall.

"Harry!" Tom cried as his head hit the wall, hard. With a wave of his hand, the magical bindings that pinned him was gone, and he was back on his feet. "Harry, talk to me," Tom pleaded, seeing that Harry's face was now hidden behind his mop of hair. He approached the curled up teen, but made no move to touch him this time. "Harry, please, tell me. Tell me why you're rejecting me?" he asked, unable to hide the hint of hurt in his voice as he did so.

The teen shook his head, and reached a hand out, flailing it about as if searching where Tom was. He took the hand into his own, and kissed the back of it when he almost jerked it away.

"Harry, Harry please, talk to me?" he pleaded some more. When there was no answer from the obviously distressed teen, he gently cupped his cheek once more and guided it just so that they could have eye contact. "Forgive me, Harry," he sighed. "Legillimens."

* * *

"I wonder if he'll come out anytime soon...?" Hermione wondered worriedly, his warm brown eyes glancing towards the door in which Harry still resided behind. Professor McGonagall had seen to guarding the door all day long, giving only assignments for her class that day. It was evening now, and dinner had came and gone, and everyone was getting agitated. What if Harry didn't want to go out for... ever? Did he plan on dying in there, all alone, without anyone knowing? And becoming a ghost and fulfilling the promise of accompanying Myrtle for the rest of their ghostly lives--if that's called living that was...?

He couldn't accept it, he just couldn't.

But there was nothing anyone could do, except to just wait. Professor Marvolo had told them all that he'd find a way to get into the room, and no one has seen him for the whole day after that, so it was a huge possibility that he'd actually found a way into the room, though he had a suspicion on how. He sighed and stretched in one of Ron's Weasley jumper, one that was blue, and far too big for his body. It seems like Molly had thought that he'd grown during Hogwarts time, and had overestimated his growth spurt period.

As he was thinking about how amusing that was, the door opened, and out came Professor Marvolo, and in his arms, a sleeping Harry. Hermione stood up immediately, his face worried, but his eyes shone with eagerness to find out his friend's condition. The professor, it seemed, saw this, and smiled to the brainiac. "He'll be fine, but I'll have to take him to the infirmary for now."

Hermione nodded, not detecting the lie he'd just told everyone. And so, he left briskly, not heading to the infirmary, but to his and Professor Lupin's chambers. No one will have to know.

* * *

It was dark. Dark, dark, dark. It reminded him too much of his cupboard. Or maybe he was in his cupboard? The dusty smell of the dark place seemed to smell just like it. Plus, it was always dark in the cupboard. Always. Ever since Dudley jumped on the stair that connected the lamp's wire to the main power box, where the wire snapped inside the cable, and had plunged the room into darkness.

Yes, he was back in the cupboard.

His butt and back ached, and his arms and legs were sore. It felt as if there were needles going through them, and he decided that he didn't like the feeling. He must've gotten the broom, though, it'd always feel like that when he'd gotten the broom. When it was the belt, he'd get a burning feeling rather than just a few aches, after all. He wondered what he did wrong this time...

Was it because he forgot some random corner of the house? Or did a bird poop on the window and he didn't clean it? Or was it another day at Uncle Vernon's job place that went bad because of his freakishness?

He didn't remember.

Huh. How odd.

When he opened his eyes, he saw a fleeting flash of red before it was gone. Were his bad friends there? He didn't want his bad friends there, not when he'd finally been freed of their influences after a few of Uncle Vernon's and Dudley's beatings. No, the bad friend was bad. Bad, bad, bad. They were bad which made him bad. But he was much, much worse without his bad friends, so maybe they're not so bad after all?

But they were bad, they always whispered to him to just kill his family. But his family loved him... right? Somewhere deep inside their hearts, they loved him... right? They loved Dudley, because he was good. If he were good, then he'd be loved like Dudley too, right? That's why he won't listen to his bad friends, they're all mean. Plus, everyone had good friends, only freaks had bad friends, and freaks don't need friends.

That's why he shouldn't let his bad friends come again, not anymore.

He blinked.

He remembered a dream, a dream of a soft, fluffy bed, a warm, huge bedroom, with a huge telly, lots of toys and books, and a very bright place. That was a room for him, right? Just like Dudley, who had a room full of everything he wanted, he also had a room for everything he wanted too, right? Just that it's reserved only for when he became a good kid. Yes, that's right, he will be a good kid, that's why he did the chores Aunt Petunia assigned him to, let himself be beaten by Dudley and Uncle Vernon, because that's how he'll become a good kid and receive lots and lots of love from his family.

... right?

And no matter what he told himself, he knew that it was a lie. His family will never love him. Not like they loved Dudley. His parents didn't love him too, that's why they died when he was little--because he was and had always been a little freak, and a bad child too.

_And that's why Tom wouldn't love him too._

Who was Tom though? Is he a bad friend? He couldn't be a good friend, because freaks don't deserve good friends. So that must be him, one of his bad friends, the one that always, always whispered in his ear, the one with red eyes. The one with red, red eyes...

... like eyes made of blood.

But why would he love him? Why would he love a freak? No one loves a freak, so no one should love him. So he shouldn't love him, no one should. No matter how much he wished it, he didn't deserve it, not like Dudley does. He's a good kid, and normal. Always, very normal. A normal kid. Not a freak like him. That's why he's bad. Bad, bad, bad, bad. That's why he's always the one blamed for everything, because he'd a bad, bad kid.

Tom didn't love him, he's the Dark Lord and Dark Lords don't have feelings. Dark Lords don't love anyone, much less a freak like him.  _But he cared for him._ Back when he was on the verge of death, he saved him, rescued him, and cared for him. Maybe he wasn't loved, he didn't deserve love, but he was cared for. He liked being cared for. And in the telly, they'd always tell him that to show how one cared for someone else, they'd hug them. If you want a hug from them, you should ask for one.

So when he saw Tom walk out of the bathroom, completing his nightly duties, he gazed up right into his ruby red eyes, and reached out both of his arms.

"Can I get a hug, please?"

And he knew that Tom cared for him when his wish was granted. He may not be loved by anyone, but at least he has Tom who cared for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That part, that last part, was very... I don't know, I just had my throat going all tight and stuff, and... yeah. I was writing this while I was listening to Demons by Jacob Lee, and you wouldn't believe that it was what I had in mind for this chapter. Dammit Minerva, how could you??? Sigh... Oh, and some news, I failed Data Structure, I shouldn't go to an IT place when I search for jobs and such in the future, I think. (tbh it was just a teeny bit and I'd have passed, but I didn't, so yeah :/)
> 
> So, what do you think? And hugs to those who got emotional over this chapter! XD
> 
> \---- To be continued --
> 
> 19/08/2017: Another edit mark over here...


	20. Fly Away, Now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title of the chapter is thanks to Panties and Stockings with Garterbelt, an anime in which I'd just found out its title lol. I remember those times back in elementary school, where people trade binder papers because it was cute and pretty, and some even collect them, and the ones I bought was of Panty and Stocking. There were cute to me, but I never did find out where they came from (my older sister liked the Rilakkuma (I think that's what it's called) and that hamster one... Kikimaru? Kukumaru? I have no idea, but yeah.) I find that I quite like that OST, the transformation OST Fly Away. I realized later that the anime was for adults, but hey. People thought School Days was for children. Heck, I did (was too naïve to realize that they were doing 'it' and thought it was rated adult because of the end art where-- *spoilers* --so yeah.)
> 
> Enough of that oddly long rant, let's get to chapter 20! (It's ch. 20 already????)

Some days, Remus would question what the world had come to. Some days, Remus would question himself, who he was and what about him that he should trust.

This was one of those days.

First things first, it was usually Severus that came first to the Great Hall, and then him. And then he'd sit beside the scowling man as he grumbled one thing or another. He was trying to keep a reputation in Hogwarts, so he understood why he kept on glaring, even as they ate their respective meals. But today was not like that. Severus was oddly late, and he'd started breakfast when he, in all his bat-like glory, swept into the Great Hall. Remus sighed, knowing that the scowling man wouldn't want to sit next to him, judging by his usual grumblings when he did so.

But to his surprise, he did, in fact, sit right next to him, grumbling as he did so.

"Good morning, Severus," Remus greeted, a hint of surprise colouring his voice. Severus looked at him, an amused twinkle in his eyes despite his ever present scowl.

"Good morning," he nodded, turning back to his breakfast. Remus was stunned. Severus,  _the_ Severus, had just replied a morning greeting properly, and not a set of grumbles as if he was irritated that he had to wake up so early in the morning??? Something was definitely odd there.

It was the first out of many that he'd noticed.

* * *

"Harry," a voice said softly, reaching his sleep-addled mind. "Wake up, Harry," the same soft voice tried to rouse him from sleep, and he opened one of his eyes with great difficulty. His eyes felt weird, sore, and his nose stuffed. His ears rang a little as he sat up slowly, a hand rubbing his eyes to rid the little bit of sleepiness that clung to him. He felt awful, to put it mildly.

"Good morning Harry," that same soft voice greeted, and Harry blearily opened his heavy eyes to find Professor Lupin sitting on his bed. It was all a blur of colours to him though, a blob of dark colours which was his teaching robes, brown-ish hair and a bit of amber somewhere on his face, glinting under the sunlight. Harry nodded, finding that simple action difficult since his head was pounding rather harshly. "How are you feeling?"

"... fine," he said, coughing a little. A glass of water was pressed into his hand, and he gladly accepted it, sipping it, savoring the coolness that slid down his throat. Professor Lupin just chuckled, and he peered at the man through the glass' rim, trying to gauge whether or not he could sense his lie like Tom did, back when he was still recovering from the aftermath of the mind control breaking.

"Well, if you say so," he shrugged, noting Harry's eyes following his every move. Harry attempted to smile when he noticed that he was being watched, but it came out more as a grimace than a smile. He then darted his eyes to his right, then to his left, trying to find the familiar neat dark hair. "If you're looking for Thomas, he's teaching class for today."

"Oh..." Harry nodded. "What happened?"

"To be honest, I don't know myself," the professor shrugged, "but Thomas and Severus said that Minerva had upset you somehow, and you had a complete breakdown and locked yourself inside a room and wouldn't come out until Thomas finally got inside and carried you out."

"Oh..." Harry said again, his eyes trained onto the royal blue sheets on his lap. The silence that ensued was awkward, and Harry wished for the professor to just go away, or say something. The silence was unsettling. When said professor coughed to clear his throat, Harry immediately looked up at him.

"This is awkward," he mumbled, making Harry smile briefly. "Let's... talk about something."

"Okay, sure," Harry nodded.

"Well then, what do you want to talk about?" the professor asked with a smile.

"Umm..." Harry thought for a while. "That dementor thing, what did you shoo it away with?"

Professor Lupin smiled in amusement at his choice of words before explaining in his teacher voice, "I... 'shooed' it away, as you said, with a Patronus. It is a spell that uses happy feelings, joyful feelings, so that the dementors could be driven away. It is currently the only spell known to be able to successfully drive them away."

"Oh, um, could you teach me the spell?" Harry requested. Professor Lupin seemed to consider it for a while.

"Alright, but remember Harry, that a Patronus is one of the most difficult spells up to date. So it'd probably take months, if not years, to cast even a wispy form, much less a corporeal form."

"It's alright, I just don't want to get... kissed," he said, his explanation followed by scrunching his nose at the thought of kissing...  _that._

"Tell me, Harry," Professor Lupin said in a contemplative tone of voice, "when the dementors came... what did you see?"

"Oh, um... I didn't see much of anything, just a woman screaming, pleading to spare me and take her life instead, and then a bright green light," he recited calmly, as if the memory didn't bother him at all. Professor Lupin just stared at him in surprise, his mind going a mile a minute to find a reason as of to why he was so... calm about this all. Not many people could be this calm when reciting their most feared memory.

"I see... That was the night of your parents' death, I assume," he told the small teen in a contemplative tone. Harry just shrugged. He felt oddly detached from his feelings on his parents, and it was an odd feeling too. He didn't understand the feelings wreaking havoc in his heart at the mention of the night of his parents' death. Then another thing came to mind.

"Professor, could you tell me more about my parents?" he asked curiously.

"Oh yes, James, your father, and Lily, your mother, were from the same grade, same house even," he said, his tone fond. "James and Sirius--your godfather--were the ultimate pranksters, and we and Peter would go here and there, pranking people, mostly Slytherins, though. Well, your father and godfather did, Peter and I, we didn't have prankster hearts," he chuckled. "Sirius would usually go for Severus, though, and James would follow, and even help him do more than half of the things they did to Severus. I admit, they were quite... cruel, and I never did stop them from doing the things they did...

"Lily, she'd storm up to James and Sirius whenever she caught them bullying Severus and reprimand them... rather harshly, to be honest. She was a fiery one, that girl," he chuckled, his eyes sad. "I remember the first time she reprimanded them was back in first year, when James mastered turning a teacup into a mice, and then he transfigured Severus' robes so that they would look like cockroaches. Oh, Minerva blew her head over it, and Lily took the second attack. They were quite cowed at the end of the day..."

And so Lupin, lost in nostalgia, kept on talking, telling him of stories on their Hogwarts years with longing in his eyes. Slowly but surely, despite Harry's admittedly valiant fight to stay awake, Harry fell asleep, lulled by the nostalgia in Lupin's voice. By the time he recounted fourth year, Harry was sound asleep.

* * *

The second thing Remus noticed was that Severus smelled faintly of Sirius. Not the smell that would usually be produced once people copulate, but the smell as if they'd been spending some time together. But the thought of Severus spending time with Sirius without any kind of fight ensuing was improbability at its' greatest, much less the thought of both of them living together.

Oh no, he had no doubt that Sirius was somewhere in the castle, he'd seen his fair share of Padfoot here and there, and it was, frankly, unsettling. He didn't know where he was staying too, if not in Severus' quarters. His inner wolf had been voicing it's delight whenever Severus would come near him, and smelling faintly of Sirius, it appeased his wolf in a way it had never been for years.

It also awakened his long-forgotten dream of someday having pups with his mates. Age doesn't matter, after all, werewolves and their mates could stay fertile until they were 80 or so, and the time for their highest fertility rate are usually around 20-50 years old. But as long as Sirius and Severus remain hostile against each other, that dream would be as far as earth to a star.

Remus sighed and looked out through the window in his bedroom, watching the night as the moon rises. It was nearing the full moon, and he hoped that if it truly was Padfoot that he'd been seeing, that Padfoot at the very least would be by his side when he transformed. Hopefully, Severus too would come, but he knew that it was wishful thinking. He stood. He needed to pack for the Shrieking Shack before the full moon arrives, so that he doesn't hurt anyone in the castle.

* * *

"Harry?" Tom knocked, his whole body tired from his rounds around the castle to find any rule-breaking students out of curfew. It was his turn tonight, and the next few nights also, to cover for Lupin. It would be tiring, but he'll get used to it... well, he hoped so. "Harry?" he called again when no answer came. Another bout of silence, he opened the door, saying, "I'm coming in."

The room was dark, and the only light came from the moonlight, shining through the window of the guest room. Had it not been for the slight flinch from under the bed covers, he might've thought that Harry was already asleep. Tom was still worried, even though Lupin had told him that he'd be fine. He'd taken his potions and had eaten his meals too, and had also taken a nap earlier, so he'd be fine, but he was still worried.

"Harry, I know you're awake," he stated, his tone softening when he saw Harry peek through the covers. "May I sit here?" he asked. Harry nodded, his vibrant green eyes watching his every move. He sat on the bed, right next to Harry's head, his fingers immediately tangling itself into his bird's nest of a hair. Harry purred as he lightly scratched his head, the sound nearly inaudible even though it was quite quiet at this time of night. "Can we... talk?"

Harry nodded hesitantly.

"Could you tell me why you locked yourself in that room, going so far as to ward the door itself?"

At the question, Harry tried to bury himself again underneath the covers, but Tom's voice stopped him.

"Harry, I want you to look at me when you answer."

"O-okay..." Harry nodded, looking up. His eyes weren't quite meeting his, but it was alright. "Umm, so, I... What Professor McGonagall did... it was... It reminded me of the cu--the Dursleys," Harry said. Tom caught the beginnings of the word cupboard, but he let it slide. "I-it triggered some bad memories and I... I, I sort of panicked..."

"Not sort of," Tom chuckled. "You had a full-blown panic attack there."

"Not my fault," Harry mumbled, and Tom scratched his head again as apology.

"Well, Minerva, she had her reasons, you see," Tom said. "What with the whole castle's inhabitants, excluding you, of course, had their genders changed, it would be inevitable for the guys to experiment with their new bodies, and girls to also explore in a similar manner. You Head of House was just worried about your chastity--or so she admitted."

"But... why would they want to explore and experiment on their bodies? Aren't girl's and guy's bodies the same? Well, except for their chests, I know girls have bigger chests than guys, but that's a simple thing, right? There shouldn't be any need to kick me out of the dorms just because of their expanding chests... or, well, deflating for girls, I guess."

Tom blinked.

And then he laughed.

"No wonder Severus and Lupin couldn't get you to understand their Talk," he said between chuckles, giving Harry an unrepentant look when he glared at him. "If that's the part that you don't understand, then come with me." Harry watched him move for the door for a while before he scrambled out of bed to follow him. They entered a bedroom, presumably Tom's, as he went over a book shelf, one out of the many in his room, if a bit less organized than the others. He pulled out a book and went over to a chair in front of the fireplace.

He sat down and lifted Harry onto his lap, and with a flick of his wand, the fire flickered to life. Harry looked at the book cover, which was actually a magazine, and saw a woman, or a witch maybe, seeing as the picture was moving, wearing a skin-tight dress which showed off her breasts and cleavage, and her skirt so short, anyone would expect to see her panties if she so much as stretched her arms upwards. Harry shot him a questioning look.

"Harry, do you truly believe that the difference between guys and girls are their chests only?"

Harry nodded, his eyes shining in curiosity on what Tom would want to tell him.

"Well, you're actually wrong about that."

"Oh... I guess I am, since girls wear skirts and guys wouldn't--"

"Not that, Harry," Tom shook his head. "Look at this," he opened the magazine to a page where a witch was only wearing her panties, her fingers moving quite furiously at her folds through the fabric of said panties, her legs spread wide open and her mouth opening and closing soundlessly. Harry's eyes widened, and he gave her and Tom a horrified look.

"Tom! Where's her... thing?" he asked.

"Her thing... Harry?"

"You know, her... her penis!" he said, a blush creeping up his cheeks. Tom chuckled at the horrified-looking Harry.

"Well, she doesn't have one," he said simply.

"But... why? Everyone has a penis... right?"

"Wrong," Tom shook his head. "Only guys and hermaphrodites have penises. Girls don't have one, instead they have a vagina."

"Vagi... na...?"

"Yes, a vagina," Tom nodded. "It is the... hole on a woman's body that leads to their wombs. Both women and hermaphrodites have it."

"But... where is it?" Harry asked, his face now redder than a Weasley hair now that he'd understood to a degree what they were talking about.

"It is located between their piss hole and their arse hole," Tom said, taking amusement in Harry's embarrassed state. "Right here," Tom pointed at a part of the picture, embarrassing Harry even further. "Any questions?" He saw Harry's relief when he snapped the porn magazine shut.

"Umm, so that's the place where girls make babies?" Harry asked.

"Essentially, yes," Tom nodded.

"Then, then how about between guys? How do guys make a baby?"

Tom took one look at Harry's wide eyes, his face blushing, but there was an innocent curiosity that shone within those bright green eyes. He was slightly taken aback at the disappearance of the dullness in his eyes and smiled.

"Well, do you want to know? I can show you," Tom offered, and Harry's face became even more red, if that was possible, and buried his face in his chest again.

"Just--just tell me, please?"

"Oh, alright," Tom sighed in mock disappointment, and Harry's hand slapped his chest when he did so. "So, guys have penises, and also testicles, which produce... seed, or sperm if you want the scientific word," Tom watched as Harry nodded in understanding. "Now, guys don't have vaginas, though they do have wombs."

"Then, how do they make a baby?"

"Through here," Tom said with a smirk, his hands cupping his arse cheeks. Harry squeaked.

"Th-their bum?" he asked, his blushing face taking on another horrified expression.

"Yes, through their arse hole," Tom nodded.

"B-but it's dirty! It's where poop come from!"

"It is," Tom nodded. "But a wizard's magic could clean the poop and destroy the germs that live in one's anus. Muggles wouldn't have these kinds of luxury from magic, but they do it anyway." Harry scrunched up his nose, making Tom chuckle. "One day I'll show you how  _we_ can make babies of our own," Tom purred into his ear, making him shiver. Tom smirked at his reaction. "Well then, it is now bedtime for boys like you."

"I'm not a little kid!" Harry pouted, but let himself be picked up by Tom so that he laid in the older man's bed. But when Tom made no move to join him, Harry had to ask, "Aren't you going to sleep too?"

"I need to take a bath first, nightly patrols are exhausting, and baths would help me relax." Harry nodded and crawled under the covers.

"I'll wait."

"Sleep if you're too tired to stay awake," Tom kissed his forehead.

"No way, I'll wait. I can wait!" Harry stubbornly said. He almost sounded like a child, and Tom saw this as a victory. For Harry to sometimes act his age was a huge progress in his recovery. He'd worried that the breakdown the other day would set him back, but it seems like it didn't. Not by much, at least. The older wizard just nodded and disappeared into the bathroom.

When he came back out, Harry was lightly dozing. He couldn't have suppressed his smile, even if his life depended on it, as he put on his sleep pants and climbed under the covers next to Harry. Sleepy green eyes opened, and a smile graced Harry's lips, surprising Tom. Harry's smiles were so rare these days, that once he did smile, it was out of pure happiness. Tom answered his smile with a wider smile of his own.

"Hey Tom?" Harry asked as he cuddled Tom's side.

"What is it?"

"Umm, one day, you said that you'll show me how to make a baby, right?" Tom didn't know where this was going, so he nodded slowly. "I don't want a baby at thirteen, Tom, but I'd like to carry your baby if you'd like?" he asked shyly.

"I'd be honoured if you're the one to carry our baby, Harry," Tom kissed him right on his lips. "Now go sleep."

"Okay, goodnight Tom."

"Sweet dreams, Harry."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was writing, and was around... 2k-ish words, I've added more than 1k words from when I started writing (sometime around yesterday...) and I was getting to Tom's talk... and then the whole webpage froze. Cursed the whole day through after that wince I lost the 1k+ words I'd added.... I wanna cry so bad... >:''( Sigh... On another note, the talk Tom did was... umm a bit uncomfortable for me, since I had to use those words that I don't use--at all, if I can help it. I guess this is how I'll feel when I have children of my own and I have to do the Talk to my children in the future... -///-
> 
> \---- To be continued --
> 
> 26/4/2018: I didn't exactly notice that Remus had already told Harry about his parents back in chapter 16 (?) so... Thank you to jujukittychick for this edit!


	21. Exploration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can guess by the title what this chapter is all about :P Enjoy~
> 
> Oh, and also, I'm bored. :( A bored me is never a good sign, you know... (but idk what to do with my time other than write stories and draw stuff... My friend recommended me if I wanted to do beta reading on novels and such, since I don't do beta on fanfics... mostly. But I forgot the site name so let's hope I can get to webtoon for now...) Oh, and mild lemon warnings and whatnot on this chapter... and hopefully the next chapter too. I'll see to it that this chapter helps with the diabetes somewhat from the last chapter... :P

Severus glanced at Sirius as he paced around his office, his agitation coming out of him in waves. He'd missed the female Sirius since he asked for the antidote due to the upcoming full moon, and even though he knew, he  _knew,_ that Remus will tell Dumbledore about his appearance if he found him, he still wanted to accompany Remus in his transformations.

And since he was so adamant about accompanying the werewolf, and with the knowledge that said werewolf would be the reason Sirius would get incarcerated once more, Severus knew he had to render the werewolf's human mind unable to remember. So he gave Remus a mild version of the Wolfsbane potion, which would help him retain his human mind, yet his memories would be that of a werewolf's... well, he hoped so.

But he wouldn't be Severus Snape if he made half-arsed potions, right?

He sighed. "If you're going to make a hole in my carpet, then I suggest you do it at a later time, when I'm not the resident potions master at Hogwarts," he drawled, making Sirius stop.

"But I'm worried, you know? It always looked so painful when he transforms, and back then, I was always right by his side to help him deal with the pain," Sirius said worriedly. Severus felt a pang of jealousy at his words, but he masked the feeling behind his usual professor mask.

"Then how about we go to wherever the hell he goes to when he transforms and help him ease out of the pain together?" Severus offered.

"I thought so too, but..." Sirius sighed, making Severus frown.

"But what?"

"Well, whenever he transforms near me, it'd always end up with... a... umm... a knotting session," Sirius said with a blush. Severus raised his eyebrow. "That's why when you were the one that saw him transform, he almost... you know, rutted with you," Sirius coughed.

"And all this time I thought he was about to maul me," Severus smirked. "Then why don't we have a knotting session together?"

"Wh-what?!" Sirius spluttered, his face red from mortification. "Wh--"

"Why? Because we're a triad mate, of course, so why not?" Severus said calmly.

"But I haven't done... you know, any knotting session for, what, years?! He'll rip me in half! And you don't even know how huge his knot is!"

"Well, we'll be finding out about that later, now won't we?"

"How can you be so calm about this?!" Sirius shouted.

"Why are you so flustered about this?" Severus raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'm... I'm not ready... to-to you know... do stuff... with you," Sirius mumbled. Severus sighed.

"I know that," he murmured. Sirius looked at him in surprise and guilt. There was an uncomfortable silence that lingered after his words.

"But..." Sirius cleared his throat before starting again, "But I want you... to at least be there to... you know, make sure that Moony doesn't bite me." Severus looked up at him, scrutinizing him, making him fidget under his gaze.

"Okay," Severus said with a rare smile that made Sirius' heart melt. It was very rare for the dour potions master to smile a genuine smile, even back then when they were still students. So when he did smile, it'd always be a surprise, because it meant that he was truly happy, overjoyed even. Now, to get him to laugh...

One step at a time, Sirius thought to himself as he answered Severus' smile with his own beaming one.

* * *

Tom's and Lupin's chambers were silent, except for the sounds of quills scratching on parchment as Harry did his Charms essay and Tom graded a few students' essays. Minerva had deemed it necessary for Harry to stay elsewhere as long as there are still students in the Gryffindor Tower that had not yet changed back to their respective genders, and with a few manipulations from Tom's side, supported by Lupin's wishes, she'd finally relented on letting Harry stay with both Tom and Lupin, much to the jealousy of many students.

It was nice to have a few moments of silence with his soulmate, and Tom looked up from his grading to take a look at Harry. His brows were furrowed together as he concentrated, his tongue peeking out from between his absolutely kissable lips, his free hand messing up his hair once in a while as he tried to form sentences on the essay. He looked absolutely fuckable to Tom, and he felt the beginnings of desire stirring in his pants as he continued on watching Harry.

After a while, or an hour or two maybe, Harry heaved a sigh of relief and stretched his arms upwards, his shirt riding up slightly to reveal skin that didn't help Tom's situation at all. He cleared his throat and hoped that his voice didn't crack under the pressure.

"I'll be going to sleep first," Tom said as Harry took out another parchment to do another one of his essays, probably potions or defence.

"Okay," Harry said distractedly. "Can I sleep in your bed with you later?"

"Of course," Tom smiled and went to do his nightly duties. After he doused the lights off, he wondered when Harry will be done with his assignments.

* * *

"You're not serious, are you?" Sirius asked as he looked at Severus as if he was insane.

"I believe that  _you're_ Sirius, but yes, I am," the potions master replied coolly.

"We're on the bloody astronomy tower and you're confident that you could fly with those wings if we jumped down?!"

"And here I thought Gryffindors were the ones without perseverance..." he mumbled. "I've already tested this myself, so yes, it is perfectly safe to jump down the Astronomy Tower to fly to the Shrieking Shack."

Sirius wondered for a moment whether or not there were students below that's witness Severus possibly jumping to his own death with him in an attempt to get to the Shrieking Shack as fast as they could. His classes had ended later than he thought it would, and it was almost nightfall. The sky was red, orange, and purple, and the sun was halfway down the hill somewhere near Hogwarts. Going through the Whomping Willow would take far too much time, so they decided that flying was the best course of action...

Until Sirius found out that they'd be jumping down the freaking Astronomy Tower, that is.

"You're bloody insane," Sirius groaned, but went towards Severus when he opened his arms in a mockery of an invitation to an embrace.

"You think so, hm?" Severus smirked, situating one arm to support the Black Lord's bum, and the other across his back so that he wouldn't fall, before he spread his wings. "Wrap your legs around my waist and hold on tight," was the only warning he gave before he jumped.

* * *

Harry peeked into Tom's bedroom from the bathroom doorway. He'd just finished all of his assignments, and had prepared for sleep, when he remembered an odd tent on Tom's pants. It was just a brief look, really, and he thought that he must've imagined it, but it was better to be safe than sorry, right? And so, he climbed under the covers and moved until his hands found Tom's skin.

Tom always slept shirtless, but would always wear either boxers or sleep pants when he goes to sleep, so Harry's hand trailed down Tom's torso to find the hem of his pants. He tried to be gentle, his touch almost non-existent, and Tom moaned in his sleep. Harry stopped to make sure that he didn't wake the older wizard up, and continued his hand's movement downwards when Tom didn't wake up.

Harry didn't know whether to be happy or worried when he felt another tent in Tom's boxers without him waking up. Biting his lip, he wondered if it was acceptable for him to just pulled the garment off without Tom's consent. But he was worried, so he resolved himself to just pull it down and deal with the repercussions later.

He gasped in surprise when he saw that Tom's genitals weren't floppy like his. Instead, it was jutting upwards, tilting a little to the right. It was bigger and longer than any male genitalia he'd ever seen, and that was to say even his whole dorm mates included. And they were all just as floppy as his, so he looked in wonder at the erection Tom sported. With a tentative hand, he poked it, earning a groan from Tom.

He looked uncertainly at Tom's seemingly sleeping face, and once more reached out tentatively to touch the warm appendage. It was hot, and hard, if not a little bit moist from perspiration. The skin that usually would cover the tip has been pulled back, revealing a mushroom-like head. When he trailed a finger over the exposed skin, he marvelled at the smoothness of it.

His explorations went over to the length of the erection, and down to Tom's considerably bigger testicles. He felt around the twin orbs to check if there was something in there that was causing whatever is happening that caused the erection of Tom's genitals. He frowned when he felt nothing out of the ordinary in there, but he was no doctor, so maybe the problem wasn't caused by whatever was in the testicles.

But there was nothing on the tip that would indicate that something was amiss... except for the slit that was moving oddly. It was opening and closing for some reason, and--

 _'And maybe the problem isn't inside the testicles, nor is it on the tip of this... thing, but somewhere along the length of it?'_ he concluded. And so he started to stroke along said length to feel anything odd. That action caused some precome to come out of the tip, and Harry wondered if it meant that whatever was causing Tom's predicament was starting to come out.

Yeah, that must be it, and Harry started to tug at the appendage after he stroked it upwards somewhat clumsily, yet determinedly. The precome helped with his hand's movement, and he took it as help from Tom. Suddenly, he was pulled from his ministrations as something started to spurt out of Tom's erection, and he decided that whatever just came out had pushed the cause for Tom's erection away, and he smiled in triumph.

"And just what did you think you were doing?" Tom asked, right into his ear. Harry yelped in surprise.

"T-Tom!" he said, scared that Tom would be displeased by his actions just now. Who said that he'd deal with the repercussions later again? "I-I was... I was trying to help you..."

"Help me with... my erection?"

"What?" Harry blinked confusedly. "No, I mean... your thing was being bothered by something, so I helped push out the disturbance!" Tom looked at him skeptically. "Really! I saw some sort of tent on your pants earlier, and I thought that maybe something was bothering you..." Now that he thought about it, to handle one's own private parts were... well, private, wasn't it? Harry was mortified at his own thoughtlessness. "S-sorry..."

"Whatever should you be sorry for?" Tom said, amusement clear in his voice. "More like, I should thank you for helping me." Harry took that as a compliment and beamed at Tom's words. "However, I'd appreciate it more if you'd just told be about it before helping me without my consent."

"I'm sorry," Harry said with a downcast look. With a subtle flick of his hand, Tom cleaned up the mess Harry had made on him, and pulled the teen down beside him.

"Aren't you tired?" Tom grumbled, and Harry nodded against his chest. As Harry's breathing evened out, he thought he heard Tom mumble, "Oh, Harry, if only you knew..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've reached... 56k+ words... This might be the longest fic I've ever written yet omg lol... Before this, it'd be either Closed (a Detective Conan fanfic in FFN) or Heartbreak... Or, well, maybe Angel? Not sure, it's all KaiShin pairing fanfics. I'm floored. Really, there should be some sort of award for this (lol jk). More lemony parts in the next chapter, and NOT underage lemon at that~
> 
> \---- To be continued --
> 
> ... maybe the lemon didn't help with the diabetes...?


	22. Full Moon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My room's balcony lamp is flickering O...o and it's nighttime to boot (morning, actually, since it's 1:41 AM) and it is hella creepy... Though tbh, real life horrors are more like cockroaches and rats and caterpillars than gory gruesome phantasms or whatever you call them... says the one who could feel where those 'phantasms' are :P But really, if you don't disturb them, they won't disturb you.... And I'm saying this cuz I was in the restroom the other day, and I saw a cockroach scuttle around... and it wasn't the usual 5 cm - 8 cm-ish cockroach size, but around 15 cm (as far as my -4 vision could see) and guess what I did? Stayed silent until it was gone. *shivers

"Bloody hell, Severus, are you mad?!" Sirius said, fear evident in his eyes, yet his cheeks were flushed with excitement.

"Took faster than I thought to arrive here, to be honest," Severus observed. He sneered in distaste at the building that was practically falling apart that was usually called the Shrieking Shack. "Seems like he's not here yet, come on."

"What, why?" Sirius asked as he followed Severus inside the building.

"Do you need to ask?" he raised an eyebrow at the animagus.

"Of course! We're just here to accompany Remus, right?" Sirius watched as Severus flicked his wand a few times to get rid of the filth that had accumulated inside the building through the years and expanded and practically renovated the room into same place cozy.

"Didn't you say it yourself," Severus drawled as he conjured a makeshift bed out of animal pelts, "that each time the wolf would transform, he'd always want to have a knotting session with you?"

"Yeah, well, but..."

"So I'm here," Severus said, forcefully pushing the dog animagus down onto the pile of fur. He then purred seductively right into his ear, "To help you prepare for that session."

"I  _told_ you I'm not ready to take the next step with you yet!" Sirius yelped. He didn't know when Severus did it, but from the cold air, he could tell that his clothes had disappeared.

"We're not taking the next step yet," Severus said off-handedly as he fished out two vials from an inside pocket of his robe. "Not between the two of us."

"Came prepared, didn't you?" Sirius glared at the potions master, who just smirked in triumph at the pinned down animagus.

"Of course I did. Otherwise I'd be a terrible mate, now wouldn't I?"

"Then I suggest you take off your clothes, all of it," Sirius challenged.

"Is that a suggestion or a challenge?" Severus drawled as he complied. Now that they were completely naked, Severus straddled Sirius' waist, his flaccid member starting to rouse.

"What did you think it was?" Sirius smirked, his eyes following Severus' hand as he opened one of the vials and dipped his fingers inside.

"I don't know, though I do so love challenges."

"Hm, though I did say that I suggested you to do something."

The two shared an amused look between themselves before Severus decided to crawl back, situating himself between Sirius' parted legs. As his fingers penetrated Sirius' entrance, Severus brought up his dark gaze, filled with restrained lust, to meet Sirius' expectant grey ones. "How many fingers should I fit?"

"Around three or four, but four just to be safe," Sirius said, the familiar feeling of being prepared making his member twitch.

"Four it is, then," Severus nodded, and they were silent for a while. Sirius watched the normally stoic face of the potions master, and found that he quite enjoyed watching the different emotions that flickered on his face. But after a while, it was getting boring, so the Black Lord reached up for the lube Severus brought, the unopened one, and coated his fingers with it.

"Hey, Sev," he said, earning a distracted answer from said man. He was amused that even with preparing his entrance, Severus was as focused as ever. "I've got an idea."

"What is it?"

"Just get up here," Sirius grinned, earning a sigh from Severus.

"For your information, I've only got two fingers in," he glared. At Sirius' grin, Severus became a little bit wary, but still complied to his request. Once they were face-to-face, Sirius immediately wound an arm around him, earning a confused look, and his lube-coated hand reached for the other's back side. "Wait a second, what are you doing?!"

"Helping you prepare, what else?" Sirius parroted with an innocent look, though the finger circling his sphincter was anything but.

"You can't--I've never--" Severus clamped his mouth shut at that. Sirius looked at him with a surprised expression, his finger still rubbing at the tight ring.  _Too_ tight ring.

"Severus, don't tell me..." The man on top glared at the wall, his face red in shame and embarrassment.

"Yes, I'm a virgin, if that's what you're asking," he said sharply.

"No, I was just about to ask if you've ever bottomed before, but for you to actually be a virgin..." Sirius said in awe. "You know what, I feel cheated," he pouted.

"How can you fee cheated when I practically just told you that I've never been with anyone before?" he redirected his glare towards the pouting animagus.

"Well, with you being all sour all the time, I thought that you'd at least pay to get laid at some sex house or something... guess you've been enduring 33 years of blue balls, huh?" Sirius grinned.

"I didn't have time for petty things such as getting lai--" a sudden sharp intake of his breath, and Sirius knew he'd just found  _that_ spot. Using more lube to ease up the virgin passage, he inserted another finger, aiming straight for the prostrate gland, making Severus make noises he'd never thought he'd hear from the man. "What the heck was that...?"

"Every man's heaven--the prostrate gland," Sirius said, emphasizing each word by stabbing mercilessly at said gland. Severus' arms were shaking from the effort of keeping himself upright, and eventually, he panted right at the crook of the other's neck rather harshly. His moans could be heard throughout the whole decrepit building. Severus' hips were moving, rubbing his leaking member right at Sirius' painfully erect one.

As the third finger joined in, the potions master howled in pleasure, spilling his seed all over Sirius, his whole body spasming in the intensity of his orgasm. "Fuck, that was--"

"Intense? I know," Sirius said happily, catching his breath in their afterglow.

"I feel like jelly," Severus admitted with a glare.

"It'll always feel like that in the afterglow, especially when you have me doing this to you," Sirius rolled his eyes with a grin. Severus opened his mouth to retort, but at that exact moment, the door burst open, and the slammed closed, just as a howl shook the whole building. The two watched as Remus turned into Moony, his amber eyes glowing in the dark, and his whole body transforming somewhat painfully. Glowing eyes landed on the two bodies tangled all around the bed of fur.

When the transformation was done, instead of the usually mangled looking wolf as Sirius remembered before finding him to be his mate, in its' place stood a proud, huge wolf, bigger than the usual wolves. He looked magnificent.

"Bare your neck," Sirius whispered, but Severus didn't need to be prompted. He had something in his head to tell him what to do in the presence of his Alpha mate. Both men closed their eyes in submission, letting their Alpha wolf sniff at them, inspecting them, licking them, and marking them. Sirius opened his eyes when he felt Severus shiver above him, his eyes widening at the red flush that adorned his cheeks, going so far down as his chest.

It was... adorable. There was no other word for it.

Then, there was a large tongue on the side of his face, and he held back a whimper. The wolf had taken his position above Severus, and from the pain radiating from his neck from Severus biting it, he knew that the wolf's erection had just breached Severus' virgin hole. "Relax, Severus, breathe," he murmured soothingly into the potions master's ear when he whimpered in pain, his fingers tangling itself into his raven locks.

"You say that when your whole body feels like it's being split into two!" he snarled angrily, the wolf above them rumbling soothingly as he breached his mate further.

"It's your first time, what can I say?" Sirius grinned, his other hand rubbing his side soothingly as the wolf licked his exposed neck in an attempt to soothe his pain.

"And they say the first time always hurts, I guess it's true," he drawled, wincing when the wolf stilled. "Why isn't he moving?" Severus asked when nothing happened. He'd always imagined that intercourse with his Alpha mate would be brutal, hard, and fast. But it surprisingly wasn't. It was... gentle, for a wolf, that is.

"He doesn't want you to be hurt by moving too fast, you gotta move first, take initiative."

"Oh, ha ha, like I did when I helped you prepare?"

"You could say that," Sirius hummed against his warm skin. Severus grunted in annoyance before trying to clench his rear muscles. He could still feel them, just stretched to the limit with the amazingly huge member inside. He wondered how big the wolf's knot is if at the beginning it already felt as if he was being split in half.

Suddenly, there was an animalistic growl, and Severus gasped as Moony took out his member slowly, and then sliding in more forcefully, grinding his hips so that his member touched Sirius' hard one.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" Sirius purred, earning a glare that quickly turned into a pained, yet lustful expression. "Bear down, it'll help." And so he did.

"This doesn't help--much, but thanks for the ti--" his words were cut off by a moan when Sirius decided that he wanted to move, making the angle of the wolf's thrusts change and brush against the bundle of nerves. Sirius grinned.

"Didn't I say? Every man's heaven." He made his point by grinding into Severus' once more erect member, pushing the wolf's slowly growing knot right into those nerves-- _hard._ Severus screamed in pleasure, his hips bucking, not knowing whether to go back to get more of that hot, growing knot, pushing right into his pleasure bundle, or front to get more friction for his somewhat neglected member.

"F-f-fuck, this feels..."

"You talk too much," Sirius grinned, kissing him full on the lips. Their tongues meeting each other's, battling for dominance, in which Severus won. Sirius retaliated by pushing his tongue far down his throat when he screamed again, his eyeballs going to the back of his head. He teased the willing mouth by touching his palate with his tongue, making his eyes water, and invite the other's tongue into his mouth to suck on.

Soon, his screams came more often than his moans, and with one last hard thrust, he came, his seed spilling once more, mixing with Sirius' as he also came. The wolf above them shallowly thrust a few times before he also stilled. Moony howled in joy and satisfaction, happy because after such a long, long time, he'd finally bonded with all of his mates.

Severus had blacked out from pleasure, and Sirius kissed his nose when he found that he was fast falling asleep. He looked up at Moony, finding glowing amber eyes staring at his gray ones with intelligence. He somehow knew that the one in control of the wolf currently wasn't Moony, but rather Remus. He reached out to stroke his neck and nuzzled it in apology.

"Sorry, Rem, please don't tell the Headmaster... please?"

A lick to his face was all the acceptance he needed to know that he'd been forgiven.

A few hours later, it was Sirius' turn to scream in pleasure as the wolf knotted him as he gave his apology a tribute. They slept together in the pile of fur that Severus conjured, happy in the knowledge that they'd finally bonded as a triad after many long years.

* * *

"You know you could've just told me."

The words penetrated the haze he was in, rousing him from sleep. Of course, the sunlight filtering through the open window, letting in fresh air, and the light hitting his closed eyes weren't helping either.

"Sorry, I wasn't sure whether you'd believe me or not... I mean, the whole Wizarding World didn't..."

"They didn't even give you a trial..."

The sad tone made him turn to where he heard the voice. He found himself nuzzling a soft, yet muscular stomach. He realized belatedly that his head was on another's lap, and fingers were intertwined with his hair, running through them soothingly. He felt comfortable and didn't want to wake up.

"I think he's awake."

"Yes he is, but we should let him sleep. We did tire him last night."

A chuckle made him grumble, and he sleepily opened one eye.

"Shut up," he grumbled, burying his face right into the toned stomach.

"You do know that you have classes, don't you?"

"Screw those dunderheads. Now leave me alone," Severus grumbled once more. The two that were sitting chuckled at his response.

"I've waited so long, you know, for you both to settle your differences..."

"Aww, Remy, we love you too," Sirius said in a teasing tone, his arms brought up around the werewolf's shoulders and his face right in the crook of his neck. Not wanting to get dislodged, Severus moved upwards and pushed said werewolf down so that he could rest on his chest, Sirius following as he was still hugging Remus.

"Never thought I'd ever see you do a cuddle session, Severus," Remus said in amusement, to which the potions master just grunted. "Sorry I was rough last night... err, well, Moony was... How are you feeling?"

"Sore. Absolutely sore. Your fault."

"Rem, I think Moony broke him. He's  _pouting_ ," Sirius snickered.

"Well, it  _was_ his long, overdue first time, so he's got the right to be acting this way," Remus scolded. He moved his hand from Severus' hair to between his shoulder blades, where he could feel his muscles move the wings protruding from his back.

"I guess so," Sirius smirked, and Severus felt a kiss on his head before everything went silent again. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep again, the beating of the werewolf's heart lulling him into slumber.

* * *

"He said  _what?_ " Minerva asked, her eyes wide in horror. He'd just told her what Harry told him, about the difference between guys and girls as he knew it, and knowing it now, she was ashamed at what she did when she put Harry in a separate bedroom from the dorm rooms. "He... he said that...?"

"Yes, he did, and I had to pull out a few of my collections just to show him what I meant," Tom said calmly, when inside he was absolutely gleeful. Gryffindors, you have to play at their feelings, especially guilt, no matter how small, to make it as if they'd done some bigger wrong than it should be. This was the perfect punishment for Minerva, for putting Harry into isolation, which in turn made him breakdown.

... Although, it  _did_ push him to hasten his mind-recovery... a little bit. But she still did hurt him, so it was unacceptable to him.

"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry," she said, looking at the ground as she tried valiantly to keep her tears at bay. To see them this quick told him that she'd been feeling guilty about hurting one of her lions without her realizing it until it was too late for some time now.

"He's still recovering, for now," not a lie, it  _was_ true that he's still on the road to recovery. But if he phrased it that way, she would catch his meaning for something worse than how he's truly doing. But it worked for his punishment plan, so he didn't elaborate. He finally stabbed at her guilt, rather harshly, by saying, "You'd best think of the consequences of your action rather than doing half-baked plans in the future. I wonder how many you've treated like him before...?" he wondered aloud, smirking when Minerva caught a sob at the back of her throat.

Feeling that she's being repentant enough, he bade his farewell and went on with his day in a happier mood. None of them heard the quickening footsteps of someone quickly running away from the scene.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oookay, who caught on to the stuff in this chapter? XD Ha! Let's see, JukeSkylar, Peya_Luna, and, probably everyone else that didn't comment but caught on anyways... XD Claps for you all~ On another note, I find that I quite like Young Jack Black and Maoyuu, the animes... They're quite inspiring (to my small, small world...)
> 
> So, what did you think of the chapter? As always, any and all mistakes I made are mine, so if there's anything that strikes you as odd (somewhere up there, maybe over the rainbow too--just need to find my gayness first...) just tell me :)
> 
> \---- To be continued --
> 
> 15/08/2017: Forgot to include this earlier; whoever had thought that sometime in book 6 (I think) Severus died a Virgin? I did, ever since I learned what that word meant, I'd cry because I still do think he died a Virgin... It's just sad, right? :''(
> 
> 16/08/2017: Edited this chapter since a few people were a bit confused about some parts, so I hope now it's a bit better from before :)


	23. Terungkaplah....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In a moment of insanity, I decided to use this chapter's title in Bahasa... I think that one word makes up for the whole chapter, really. The basic word means 'reveal' if you're wondering. Also, I'm in the spirit of celebrating Indonesia's Independence Day (Yay!) So let's get going to the next chapter... Enjoy~

The days passed quite happily for Harry, though he did wonder where Professor Lupin went the last few days. But he didn't think too much about it, as long as he spent time with Tom. Though after a few weeks, Professor McGonagall had came up to him and apologized and invited him to go back to the lion's dorm, since the whole gender-changing prank had all but ended. In fact, things seemed to have cooled down a bit, and there were no more evidence of the prank war ever happening. It was quite funny though, to see a few of his school mates walking around in a variation of colours and half-transfigurations.

There was a rumour that the gender-changing prank had originated from the Potions Professor, but many didn't want to believe that the scowling, snarky professor had been the one to create such an ingenious plan. But then again, while the professor was one of the most-hated professor in Hogwarts, he was quite the genius--what with the many potions he invented and enhanced, most prominently the Wolfsbane potion. Not that many people know though.

But that was another story altogether.

After talking a few more times with Professor Lupin, together with Sirius and Snape, he'd finally gotten to know them all better, and had started to see all three of them as some sort of guardian, especially Sirius with his godfather status. And while he'd gotten many stories about his father--James, he'd valued Snape's stories of his mother even more. Who knew Snape and Lily were childhood friends? To Harry, they were like sun and moon.

He'd been intrigued by his admission that the flying spell, while he'd learnt the spell from Voldemort originally, Lily had been the one who had created one with safety measures to it; one of them being the parallel-direction charm that she'd integrated into the original spell to prevent fatal injury. Apparently, she'd also cast those charms to Harry's very first broom, one he'd received when he was still a one-year-old and James had the brilliant idea of letting him fly it outside.

Harry was happy to know more about his parents, and more importantly, for getting more friends.

Eventually, the excitement died down, and things were peaceful.

* * *

It was a sunny day, warm in comparison to the days previous. It was probably one of the last warm days, since the chill of winter has been settling in for the past week. "Let's go outside and enjoy the sun today," Hermione said, shocking both Ron and Harry. The lioness just rolled her eyes and picked up a lazing Crookshanks, draping the kneazle comfortably around her neck.

"Who are you and what have you done to our Hermione?!" Ron said with a grin.

"Oh, you wound me. Now come on," she urged, pulling Ron to his feet as Harry had excused himself to go pick up his scarf.

"Hey, Harry, go grab Scabbers if he's in his cage, would you?" Ron called.

"Sure!" Harry called back, wrapping the red and gold scarf around his neck snugly. His eyes sought the cage Ron had bought in the last Hogsmeade week since Crookshanks kept chasing him, and almost eating him once, and Scabbards kept disappearing. Ron didn't want anything to happen to his rat like it did for Neville's frog, and with Harry and Hermione's help, they could buy the cage together.

He leaned down to peer into said cage and smiled when he saw Ron's rat. "Hello, little guy, we're going out to enjoy some sun," Harry whispered excitedly. "Ron wants to bring you along, so I'll have to close the cage door, alright?" The rat only squeaked as he closed and locked the cage door, warding it also, for good measure. No need for any pranking school mates going around and spelling the cage open.

"Come on, let's go!" Hermione said, standing in front of the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Patience, 'Mione," Harry rolled his eyes amusedly. "Here, Ron," Harry handed the cage to him.

"Thanks mate."

"Now come on!" Hermione said, walking quickly with a skip in her step.

"What's gotten into her?" Ron whispered.

"Dunno," Harry shrugged. "There's probably something outside that she wants to see or something."

"Probably," Ron agreed.

With Hermione's quick steps and her insistent urging, they arrived in the entrance hall in no time. "Slow down, 'Mione!" Harry said, slightly out of breath since his strides were the shortest among the three.

"I can't! I heard that today the Headmaster decided to give the Lake's Squid a friend and I want to see--oof!"

"Watch it, Ms. Granger!" Snape snapped rather harshly at her, at his side a leashed Snuffles.

"Professor Snape!" she said, surprised, as she rubbed her nose. When she bumped into the dour man, she'd hit her nose right into his elbow, and now it was throbbing slightly.

"You Git--"

"Ten points from Gryffindor for your language," he glared at Ron. "Now, if you want to go on a... quick walk, then I'd suggest you slow down a little."

"Sorry, professor," Hermione said sheepishly. "We just wanted to see the Black Lake's newest addition..."

"Sorry to pop your small, insignificant bubble, Ms. Granger, but the 'newest addition' as you'd said is actually just Squid food," he looked down his nose at the bushy-haired girl. His dark eyes travelled to her kneazle, then meeting the redhead's murderous glare head-on. Harry's movement caught his eye, and his eyes narrowed slightly at the sight of the rat in a cage... that  _rat._

"Oh..." Hermione's previously expectant expression turned into one of disappointment. "I... never took you for a dog person, professor," she said, trying to change the subject.

"Of course, I have two mutts at my beck and call, no matter how idiotic they sometimes are," he drawled, earning a growl and bark from Snuffles. Harry just giggled when Snape smugly looked at the mutinous glare the dog gave him. Then his eyes slid towards Harry's hand--towards the cage. "And I see you're actually a.... rat person."

"Oh, no, this is Ron's. His name is Scabbers," Harry said politely, and both Ron and Hermione gaped at the Boy-Who-Lived.

"Harry, are you alright? Am I dreaming?" Hermione asked with wide eyes, her tone disbelieving.

"I think we are, 'Mione. Or maybe the world's ending... Harry and Snape are being civil to each other..." Ron said numbly, his mouth gaping.

"That's _Professor_ Snape to you, Mr. Weasley," Snape snapped again, but his eyes never strayed from the rat in the cage. "May I take a closer look?"

"Umm..." Harry looked towards Ron, who was still in shock, and knew that he wouldn't be going out of it any time soon. He nodded, "Sure...?" Snape just raised an eyebrow at him, his hand outstretched towards Harry. Said boy shrugged and handed over the whole cage.

"Hmm... peculiar..." Snape said, his eyes scrutinizing the small, terrified rat.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"He looks... familiar...."

Snuffles barked.

"I'll agree with Snuffles, then," Snape nodded. "I'll be taking him to Amelia Bones for further checking."

"What?!" Ron squeaked, finally getting out of his shock. Beside him, Hermione watched their conversation quietly. "You can't do that!"

"I can and I will. I have every suspicion that this might be an animagus," he said, casting a wordless sleeping spell towards the rat.

"Animagus?"

"It's a spell that can transform a person into an animal, more specifically one's inner animal. You need to either meditate and practice for years before you master the spell, or you could force yourself to transform with a potion that takes a long time to brew, because it needs to be made at a specific time, and one of the ingredients is a mandrake root that you have to keep in your mouth for at the very least one month until you brew the potion. Once you've become one, you'll have to be registered in the ministry, or else you could be put into Azkaban for at least five years in penalty," Hermione rattled. "Honestly, Ron, Professor Lupin told us about this a month ago!"

"Sorry," the redhead said sheepishly, but once her words sank in, his face turned pale. "If--if he's an animagus... then all this time, I've been... living, and sleeping on the same bed as... another... person..."

"I suggest you bring Mr. Weasley over there to the infirmary. He's going into shock," Snape shrugged, then left with billowing robes. Once Ron was in the infirmary, he looked at Harry with wide eyes.

"I'm still dreaming, aren't I?"

"Pinch yourself. If it hurts, then this is not a dream."

He pinched himself rather harshly. And fainted.

* * *

"Severus, long time no see," Amelia smiled. She'd been an upperclassman of Severus' back when he was still in Hogwarts, and she'd been one of the few people whom respected his skills, sometimes even hinting at him that he could get far none-too subtly. "What brings you here?"

"Amelia," Severus nodded. "I came because I've brought a... rat."

"Yet you have a dog by your side?" she furrowed her brows in confusion. Snuffles just yipped at her playfully.

"Oh no, not this mutt. This rat," he said, taking out the cage Scabbards was in from one of his many, yet invisible, pockets.

"Oh, alright, what's with the rat? You're not suggesting I give it to some of the Unspeakables to experiment on, are you?"

"No... but watch," he said, placing the sleeping rat on the floor, out of the cage, and then said the revealing spell. The rat's whole body started bubbling and expanding, growing bigger and bigger into something--no, someone. Snuffles growled, and Amelia gasped.

"Peter Pettigrew..." she whispered in surprise. Severus just nodded. "But... but how? Wasn't he supposed to be dead? His finger..."

"Was cut off to make his fake death believable, I believe," he said distastefully, his eyes pointedly glaring at the stud in one of the sleeping man's hand. Amelia's eyes hardened, and she quickly took her quill to write to a few Aurors and sent the note flying away.

"Now, are you going to tell me that the dog by your side is also an animagus?" she asked, raising a brow.

"As a matter of fact..." Severus nodded towards Snuffles, who just whined. He glared at the mutt, and said mutt seemed to huff, before it transformed into a man--Sirius Black.

"This day is just full of surprises..." she muttered. "So, I believe that he'd been falsely imprisoned?"

"Yeah, never got a trial, even," the escaped convict muttered before Severus even had a chance to answer. Amelia just smirked.

"I just  _knew_ that there was something about you two that made it possible to ship you together," she grinned. Both Sirius and Severus snapped their heads towards her in surprise, and she rolled her eyes at their incredulous looks. "Don't give me that, I've seen jealousy in motion many times, even before Hogwarts, and I've seen how you two look at each other."

"We never said anything about our relationship," Sirius pouted.

"Don't pout, it doesn't look good on you," Amelia said in an amused tone. "And I never did say anything about a relationship, just that many girls shipped you two together." Severus glared at Sirius for accidentally revealing their status, and he just ducked his head in embarrassment.

"You call--Sirius Black!" an Auror said, coming in haughtily. "We've been given orders to have you Kissed upon capture!" he said.

"And I order you to  _not_ get one Sirius Black Kissed, but to get him and this...  _man,_ " she said with clear distaste, "into the ministry cells to get put into a trial!"

"But, Mrs. Bones..."

"Silence. Your job is to uphold justice and prevent chaos, is it not?"

"But he's You-Know-Who's follower!" the Auror said.

"Have you found a Dark Mark on him?" Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Shut up, you Death Eater," he hissed.

"Enough! Where is Auror Shirley as I asked, Auror Dan?" Amelia said angrily, her iron hold of her emotions slipping.

"Out." he said simply. Amelia sighed and conjured a patronus.

"Go find Auror Shirley and tell her to come here," she said, sending it away. Auror Dan's face turned pale at her actions and she narrowed her eyes. "Severus, restrain him."

"My pleasure," he said, stunning him and binding him with magical ropes. He did the same to the sleeping animagus and sat on a chair with Sirius, waiting for the female Auror to come. He just hoped that this wouldn't take too long.

* * *

Ron was quite traumatized by the fact that Scabbers had actually been an animagus, and the Daily Prophet that came down that morning didn't help either. It declared that Sirius Black was free, and the real culprit had been taken to prison for a life-long incarceration. When Hermione happily chattered about justice being upheld and how the ministry was useless back then for not giving a trial before convicting anyone of crimes, Ron had become pale at the thought that he'd been sharing a lot of his moments with Scabbers, confessing that he'd remembered a few times where he'd masturbated in front of said rat.

Not that Harry knew what that word meant, but he'd be asking Tom about that soon.

The door to the Great Hall opened, and they saw Professor Snape and Professor Lupin walking in, chatting as if they were old friends with Sirius. That was until the dog animagus spotted Harry, and he grinned widely and in seconds had closed the distance to come up and lifted him to hug him rather tightly.

"Oh, I've missed you so much, pup!" he said happily, burying his face into the crook of Harry's neck, taking in the smell of his pup and familiarize himself with it. The Hall was silent, watching the two's exchange, and Sirius received twin glares from two places--one being Tom's glare, the other Ginny's. "Come on, I declare that we spend some quality time together!" he declared, bodily carrying the thirteen-year-old out of the Great Hall, leaving silence behind them.

No one noticed, but Severus sighed while Remus grinned. They knew that the school year would be by far the most interesting one they'd ever experience.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm insane to be waking up at 1:30 AM after going to sleep at 10 PM last night, and not feel sleepy at 7 AM... It's a record for me lol... Then again, I've been trying to sing to Caravan Palace's Lone Digger and am not succeeding.... The rap's really fast for me :( but practice makes perfect, nee?
> 
> \---- To be continued --
> 
> 19/08/2017: ...This one is the last one to edit for... this morning, I guess (it IS 2 AM oh god... no wonder I'm hungry...) Thank you to Booklover_17 for pointing out the Scabbards thing! On another note, I think I'll be taking a break for now, since I'll be reading a novel. Expect to see a new update... next week, maybe?


	24. Dreams And Silence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I did say that I might not be updating until next week, but I've finished reading the book I was reading and so here I am. (For reviews on what book I read and other odd random stuff, visit my blog in stufaupdates.wordpress.com, it's totally not worth visiting, just so you know) And I've recently found a HPLV fanfic in FFN, Silk Roads, I think the title was, and it's super interesting and funny, which also involves a slightly insane Harry who is MoD who can travel through dimensions. It's borderline crossover, well it technically is, but that's not the main point of the story so...
> 
> Chapter 24! Enjoy~

She's being watched. Well, of course she is, but it doesn't mean she liked it. She couldn't break into Snape's personal potions stores, and her potions ingredients were missing, the ones that aren't required for her school year. Which means that she couldn't make the potions she wanted to make, and which also means that all her hard work had been wasted. And she knew exactly who the culprit was.

Snape.

He's been keeping a close eye on her, and she suspected it was why he and her Harry had arrived at King's Cross together earlier in the year. She wouldn't put it past him, but Harry was hers, hers, _hers_!

She silently fumed as she plotted her next move. Maybe it wasn't wise to make a move when she's being closely watched, but she wanted her Harry,  _now._ Now, now, now, NOW! And no one can be trusted with this information...

"What had captured your mind, Ginerva?" the guy beside her--a Ravenclaw, she'd forgotten his name--asked as he stroked her soft, red hair.

"I'm just troubled," she sighed, making a sad look. Yes, enthrall them with your charms, and soon they'll make armies just for you to fight your troubles. "The potions ingredients supplies--someone keeps stealing it."

"Well, that just can't do, now can it?" he frowned, his blue eyes beautiful in his contemplative look--although not more beautiful than Harry's, of course!

"No... I guess I'll just have to buy more the next time I go to Hogsmeade..." She wondered if she had enough money for that, for her more... questionable ingredients.

"Well, be careful on what you buy--sometimes you might find potion ingredients way past their expiry dates, and more often than not, it could cause poisoning on a person." Wow... A Ravenclaw that sounded as if he truly cared. Maybe smartass ravens also do have a heart.

"Yes, thank you for warning me," she smiled her shy smile, looking into his blue, blue eyes from under her lashes. He blushed, but returned the smile nonetheless. And yet, all she wanted was Harry's smile, Harry looking at her, and only her, smiling, declaring his love to her, marrying her, making her Lady Potter, making her rich beyond any dream she'd ever had... and more.

He was rightfully hers!

* * *

Harry shuddered as an odd feeling came through him, a sense of horror dawning upon him, and yet he couldn't tell why that was. But he didn't let the feeling linger, he needed to go to his detention fast! He was already late as he is.

Maybe that was it, his body finally realizing that he was late for detention?

He knocked on the door and waited. He wondered if Snape forgot about his detention? It was wishful thinking, but he could hope, right? He knocked again--no answer. He was getting worried. He and Snape had gotten closer, more so than ever before, though he'd sometimes catch him saying something that made him think that he still despised him, though most of those happened in class.

He'd become some kind of guardian to him, just as Remus and Sirius had. Tom was different, he was his soulmate, so he's not supposed to be his guardian at all, he thinks. And so he'd come to care for all of their well-beings. He just hoped that Snape had a good reason to not answer his knocks like he did before--throwing up, feeling feverish, throwing tantrums in the form of point-taking and detentions... The usual.

Well, maybe not the first two, and he's worried since it's been happening to him and Sirius for months. He wondered if it was stomach flu or something? Had they gone to Madame Pomphrey yet? Please don't let it be something that can't be cured...

He cast a silent Tempus, and found that he'd been standing in front of the potions office door for almost one hour, and he began to panic, Snape had never taken this long to answer his door...

"Professor Snape? I'm here for my detention?" Harry called, opening the door easily. He jumped in surprise when he heard a shout of "Remus!" from a somewhat hoarse-sounding Snape, as if he's been screaming for a while. What struck him as odd, though, was the position the two were in. Snape, bent over his desk, sweating with his cheeks red, his eyes shut and his mouth pulled into some sort of grimace--an expression so familiar yet oddly... strange for him.

Behind him was Professor Lupin, his chest on Snape's back, his expression more or less the same, but with open eyes, Harry could see that his pupils were almost black... weren't his eyes supposed to be amber or something? Their hips seemed to be joined together, for some reason, but he couldn't be sure since Remus' robes hid whatever their hips were doing with each other.

Harry just stared blankly at the picture the two made. He didn't know just what the heck they were doing, panting and sweating and--

"Naughty child, this is a scene little boys like you shouldn't stare at," a voice purred into his ears, his eyes covered by a hand while his body was being directed back outside by the other hand.

"Tom!" Harry said, his shock making him sound like a girl. "What are you doing here?"

"What are  _you_ doing here?" Tom countered, looking at him with a raised eyebrow, not unlike a certain potions professor's amused, inquiring look.

"I'm here for detention," Harry stated, his eyes glanced uneasily towards the now closed door. "But then I saw Professor Lupin and Professor Snape in there together, and I didn't know what to do..."

"Ah, yes, detention," Tom said in an amused voice. "Remus did say something about taking over Severus' detention earlier..."

"Is it because what they're doing?" Harry asked, curious. "What  _are_ they doing anyways?"

"They're making babies," Tom stated with a straight face. "And before you think too much about it, no, that does not mean that they'd want you any less--you're like their first son after all--it means that you'll be having a brother, or sister."

"You mean... like a family?" Harry asked, wondering how Tom knew where his thoughts were bound to go before he even thought about it.

"Yes, like a family. Imagine little Snapes and Lupins and Blacks, even, running around, playing with you. And you'll be a big brother who takes care of your younger siblings, won't you?" Tom said, his eyes softening at the wonder shining in Harry's eyes.

"I'll have brothers and sisters, like the Weasleys?"

"Yes," Tom nodded.

"I can't wait until they're born! I've always wanted brothers and sisters," Harry said excitedly, and Tom shook his head fondly at his reaction.

"Come on, let's go to the Defense office for your detention." Harry watched as Tom extended his hand towards him, as if an invitation for him to hold his hand. Maybe it was? Shy, Harry took the outstretched hand and marveled at the warmth radiating from said hand when it closed around his. It was bigger than his, and softer. It felt strong, and more than that, it felt nice. To hold hands with other people feels this nice. Was that why people like holding hands together?

Maybe it was. Either way, he loved the feeling of Tom's bigger hand on his.

"So, what am I gonna do in detention today?" he asked.

"Remus wanted me to teach you the Patronus spell... but I know of a spell that would lure dementors away, rather than just chasing them away."

"Sounds like fun!" Harry beamed, eager to learn whatever it was so that he wouldn't get... kissed... by those creepy creatures. The only ones that he'd allow to kiss him is Tom!... and maybe Remus and Sirius and Snape... And the Weasleys too... And maybe the little brothers and sisters that Remus and Snape and Sirius were making... and well, definitely children he and his Tom will make some day...

* * *

Remus was mortified--to be found by someone he considered his cub in such a position... was embarrassing, to say the least. Severus sat on his lap, his head resting on his shoulder, breath even as he slept, unaware of whom had seen them. But then again, he was certain that he'd warded the door with the strongest wards he knew, and he even included a silencing and privacy wards just to be certain.

He wondered how Harry would take to seeing them in such a compromising position... though he also hoped for Thomas to help cover what had just happened. He'd be absolutely mortified, and might even die of embarrassment if his cub asked him what he was doing with Severus. As he thought so, Severus started to slip from his shoulder, and he quickly secured him by holding him with his arm.

It was a surprise, really, to one morning found both Severus and Sirius kneeling in front of the toilet bowl, snarling and snapping at each other as they got sick together. While his human part was parts amused, parts worried, his wolf howled in joy. He'd thought at first that their scents changed somewhat because they'd finally mated as a triad...

But no, it was actually because they'd been fertilized and were now carrying his cubs.

Severus mumbled something intelligible under his breath, and Remus happily nosed his neck, imprinting the scent of his last mate into his mind. It was weird when Severus wanted to have lots of sex with him, while Sirius didn't even want to touch him. But sometimes, the animagus would crawl into his bed and snuggle up to him with a whimper, and he was quick to reassure him that it was alright, that he'd take care of both of them.

He'd even  _cooed_ at them when they demanded him to feed them. It was amusing to see the two gang up on him, but he was content. His hand fell to Severus' abdomen, seemingly still flat, but was more filled than before. In a month or two's time, he'll be showing, and it'd be far too big for people to not notice it if they were searching for the right signs. Well, at least werewolf mate's pregnancies were shorter than other pregnancies, for only 5 months at most.

Thank god for small mercies, he didn't know how the school would handle a pregnant Severus and Sirius for 9 months... Disastrous would be saying the least.

* * *

_Arms around his waist stopped him from jerking away. When Harry opened his eyes, he knew that he was supposed to be in bed, but... A whispered breath in his ear made him shudder, but for some reason he couldn't make any sense of what he was saying._

_He._

_Yes, it was a he, with his flat chest and floppy member... well, not so floppy anymore. He tried to turn his head to look at the person holding him, but ended up falling forward on top of--Tom. A smirking Tom._

_"Would you like to take control tonight, Harry?" he asked, his tone a purr in his ear, his breath a ghost of a touch down his neck. "Or would you like me to guide you?"_

_"I want you to just shut up and kiss me!" he hissed, startling himself with his own forcefulness. He'd never demanded anything of anyone, at least he didn't remember doing so. He worried that Tom would hate him for it, and was relieved when said man chuckled._

_"As you wish," he murmured, immediately claiming his lips. With a swipe of his tongue, he asked for permission to enter, and Harry complied by parting his lips. He was confused when the expected tongue didn't enter. He opened his eyes to convey his question, but only found amused eyes, watching his next move. A hand on the back of his neck prevented him to pull away, and he frowned._

_Usually, it'd be Tom's tongue down Harry's throat... does this mean that he wanted his tongue down his throat? Not entirely sure himself, he tentatively entered his warm mouth with his tongue, marvelling at the dips and crevices he could find by tracing his tongue within the wet cavern. He didn't realize that he had closed his eyes to savor Tom's taste--of musk and... herbs? And earth._

_He didn't know how to describe his taste, but that was as close as he could get._

_Something cool trailed down Harry's back, and he shivered at the feeling._

_"Let me teach you how to feel good, Harry," Tom said, biting the juncture between his neck and shoulders harshly, licking it as if in apology when Harry whimpered. He felt a finger trailing down his back as Tom kissed his neck, biting it, sucking it, while his other hand explored his front. When a finger pushed and pulled at a nipple, he started to thrash, not knowing why he felt tingles from Tom touching his nipple._

_"Do you like that?" Tom purred, a hand kneading his bum cheeks, parting them and caressing his bum hole gently. Harry quivered at the feeling. Growling, the younger of the two glared at the man in front of him. His fingers copied Tom's and found both of his nipples. He pinched them--_ hard.  _Tom yowled, and once again, Harry became afraid if he did something wrong._

_"Gently, Harry," he whispered breathlessly, demonstrating it by twirling the nub of Harry's hard nipples and pinching it with just the right force to send those tingles down his spine. He arched his back at the feeling, his mouth opening, but no sound came out. He smiled sheepishly at Tom, licking his abused nipples as an apology. Green eyes sought red ones, and he found adoration in Tom's eyes which made his stomach fill again with butterflies._

_How they got in without him knowing, he'd never know._

_A burn in his bum hole made him yelp in surprise. Tom shushed him, the hand on his nipples travelling down, and Harry pouted at the loss. "Tom..." he whined, and Tom's eyes widened in surprise for a fraction of second. Before Harry could question it, a wide grin spread on Tom's face, and a hand palming at his member made him gasp and close his eyes. He was also surprised that it wasn't floppy, rather it was erect like that time he helped Tom with the tent problem._

_He didn't even get a chance at being confused. A scream tore through his throat when Tom scratched lightly at his piss slit, and the finger in his bum hole pressed hard on... something. It rendered his vision white with pure pleasure, and tears escaped his eyes at the overwhelming feeling. Tom held him as he rode out his first ever orgasm, and when the trembles had been reduced into quiet whimpers, Tom kissed him._

_Harry closed his eyes as he enjoyed the feeling of Tom's tongue playing with his, and within minutes, he passed out. For a second, he wondered what passed through his member when the pure pleasure feeling overwhelmed him. He sincerely hoped that he didn't piss his bed._

* * *

Harry's eyes opened abruptly, and his breathing was ragged. What was that? That pure pleasure? He didn't know. He got up to go wash his face in the bathroom, seeing as it was only 4 AM, and stopped when he felt something in his pants. It felt... wet. Wet and sticky. His face drained of blood in horror and mortification. The last time he'd had an accident, it was when he was 3, when Aunt Petunia kept on yelling at him because he kept pissing his bed.

No one should know that he'd just pissed his bed, and it was a good thing that the bedding wasn't wet, nor damp. He quickly got his toiletries and walked carefully towards the bathroom. Good thing no one was awake at 4 AM except for him.

* * *

Tom opened his eyes and groaned. What just happened? It felt so real, talking to Harry and... well, playing with him. He didn't think that he'd have a wet dream, not at his age... or was it a dream? He'd never imagined for Harry to whine and demand about anything in real life... Nor in his fantasies. Harry would usually be asking for more, and looking up at him with lust--not the innocence that shone in those bright, emerald eyes...

Sitting up, he knew that he should get ready quickly, but first... He had to take care of his morning wood first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what I hate the most? When I have to rewrite chapters after more than half of it has been lost. Well, anything more than 1k or 2k, really. Or maybe less? Makes me wanna cry every time... ;_;
> 
> Harry's first wet dream! Yay! I haven't been doing Ginny's POV and I won't apologize (for those who are curious as of to what she's been doing...) since there really wasn't anything to write about her. But then again, my mind works one way. Sort of. Anyways, I'll be reading another novel... or watch another anime, lol. I had a VR app showcase thing, and it was... disappointing. Since the developers were upperclassmen and some of my friends, and today's an anime festival day, so almost no one came. I did come, and four others, but that's it. It's just so sad...
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	25. The Headmaster's Secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might be confused by this chapter, but this will explain a few things for future chapters... well, more specifically, the one guy I don't know whether to bash or not :P I dislike him, but I also like him, so... And who says Jigoku Shoujo is creepy? It's awesome! XD There should be a timeline here somewhere...

The sour taste of lemon drops on his tongue made him hum happily--it reminded him of a time when it was just so simple... He loved candies, because it's something he considered simplistic in its' taste, in its' shape, especially candies like these... not too sweet... or weird-tasting, just... sourness... like life...

He was tempted to philosophize the taste of lemons, but he couldn't. Not right now. He wondered why things weren't going as he'd planned, as he knew should happen. True, Harry was getting closer and closer to Remus, but... How come Sirius Black was found innocent? Dumbledore shook his head. Sitting back, his twinkling blue eyes looked up at the ceiling.

It was a wonder why people don't look up when they enter a room, it's usually the last place people would look. He knew, because he also new of a story of a boy who never lost in playing hide-and-seek, but had also died due to it. Hiding behind a statue in an alcove far above the ground on a building, it was... sad. He'd only found him when he'd misjudged his apparition calculation and ended up right next to the boy's remains.

He shook his head. The Christmas holidays were just around the corner, and it was time to be happy again. He wasn't going to spend the days moping about a decade-long dead body.

His twinkling blue eyes examined the runes etched into the ceiling, brown in its' colour of dried blood. The first time he became Headmaster and saw it, he'd been horrified. But then, it just so happens that it was actually an ancient portal-opening rune, one that could only be activated once every decade or so. The first time he'd entered said portal, it was a blast for him--to say the least.

He opened his drawer and pulled out a book, hardcover and thick. He was surprised by the events of Harry Potter's first year, every single event had been written in this book, and his plans back then had been one he'd been planning for years. Second year was... well, more or less the same, what with the whole Slytherin's heir and such. But this year... Dumbledore opened the book and looked at the title.

_Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban_

... yeah, none of the things in the book was happening, and he wondered why. The author had been a dimensional seer, a rare kind of seer that usually appears in muggles. One of the reasons he didn't want Tom Riddle to kill all muggles. He was fortunate enough to meet her at a coffee shop as she had taken to spending her mornings there.

But regardless of whether it followed the book itself or not, it was fun to pass the time by reading what Harry Potter was supposed to be doing. Propping the book up so that he could read while relaxing, he popped another lemon drop into his mouth and started to read.

* * *

"See ya mate!"

"Yeah, see you for Christmas!"

"Sure," Harry smiled, waving his hand as the two disappeared into the carriages that would take them to Hogwarts Express. Once everyone was out of sight, he sighed, shaking his head. Sirius had invited him and his guardians and soulmate to spend the rest of the hols in his home, a Black Manor situated somewhere in Ireland. The place hadn't been used for centuries, and when he was freed, he'd renovated it and turned it into some cozy place for them all.

He was excited to see his godfather's house, and he couldn't wait until he could floo over... but on the other hand, he didn't want to leave Hogwarts since it was his first home, and he'd never expected that he'd spend Christmas somewhere other than the castle. A cold wind caressed his exposed face, and he shivered at the cold. Pulling his scarf higher up his face, he looked around the vast, empty space which was Hogwarts courtyard of sorts.

It was odd to see the place so empty, not when he was used to seeing it full of students hanging around, lounging and playing together, chatting practically everywhere. He shook his head. No need to be thinking such things at such a time. He turned and entered the castle, planning on warming up with Tom in front of the fire, maybe some hot chocolate will do him some good.

God knows Remus makes the best hot chocolate he'd ever known.

As he rounded the corner, he'd nearly collided with a very irate, very pregnant Snape. Despite not saying anything to the man, Snape's scowl turned into a glower. "Potter!" he said rather harshly, making him wince. "You should know better than to run in the hallways!"

"I'm sorry, sir," Harry ducked his head, trying to look as guilty as he could. He knew that Snape's trying to deal with pregnancy hormones, and for the last few days, he'd been cruel in taking points and handing out detentions. Heck, almost all of the Houses had points nearing zero--even the Slytherins. Not many knew about him being pregnant, his belly being covered by various glamours as it is.

But he'd already seen said round belly, and he'd been afraid that Snape would burst. His belly was even bigger than Sirius', and he'd wondered why that was.

Walking through the empty hallways, he thought about many things that had happened within that year since last Christmas. Meeting Tom, helping him with the resurrection, finding out that he had a godfather, gaining three guardians and a soulmate, those of which he cared for dearly... It was quite eventful, and a smile played on his lips as he thought about it.

But then dropped it immediately in favour of mortification. He'd wet his bed many times this year--no, this past few months. And the oddest thing about it? Was that his urine wasn't yellow when he did wet his bed, it was white, sort of transparent. He hated wetting his bed, hated feeling like a child due to it occurring. It was embarrassing. It was a good thing that he'd always wake up at dawn, far before anyone woke up, so no one knew of his bed-wetting.

He shook his head, not wanting to think about it  _at all._ He didn't want Tom to think that he was such a child for wetting his bed, and he didn't want him to think him more of a freak than he already was. It's not normal to have white-transparent urine, right?

"Tom?" he knocked on the door that led to Tom's and Remus' chambers. The door swung open, and before he knew it, he was pressed into a swollen stomach.

"Heya kiddo!" came the joyful voice of Sirius. "Come on! I've gotta show you something!"

"Eh--wait, SIri--"

And he was pulled into the room.

"Come on, touch my belly!" he said excitedly, as if Christmas came early for him. Harry just nodded and did as he asked. At first, there was nothing besides warmth, and he gave the older man a questioning look. And then, there was... something. An odd feeling. Almost like a thump. "Did you feel that?" he said, his face beaming with happiness. Harry nodded mutely, giving his godfather a questioning look. "That's the baby moving!" he whispered conspiratorially.

Harry's eyes widened at his words, and he looked at the baby bump in awe. "Hello, little baby," Harry whispered in wonder to Sirius' bump, and got a kick to his palm as an answer.

"Hello, Uncle Harry," a voice said from behind him, and he turned to see Tom smirking amusedly.

"Tom! Tom! I can feel the baby!" Harry smiled, and Sirius seemed to preen at his words.

"Of course you can," Tom nodded, placing his hand on Harry's shoulder to which said teen leaned into. "But first, let's sit down. Want hot chocolate?"

"Yes please, with marsh mellows and maple syrup and also some strawberries too!" Harry said, his attention focused on the baby bump in front of him. Tom just raised an eyebrow at him, and Sirius just looked at him oddly.

"You want some too?"

"Actually, that's exactly what I wanted, though I'd like it if you'd put in avocadoes instead of strawberries," Sirius crinkled his nose in distaste. Tom just chuckled and shook his head before going into the kitchen. Harry continued to rub the firm, swollen stomach gently, trying to find where the baby would be kicking, or punching, next. Sirius sat back, seemingly not affected by the pregnancy much, unlike Snape...

Speak of the devil, Harry looks up as the door opened and came in a... more irate than before Snape. He was grumbling under his breath and his scowl just made him look murderous. "Bloody ankles, getting all bloody swollen and all bloody achy... Fuck Remus if he doesn't give me a bloody massage," Snape mumbled as he sat right next to Sirius, who just grinned at him and gave him a one-armed hug.

Harry was stunned, he'd never heard Snape curse that much under one breath. He'd never even expected that he'd use the 'f' word. "Bad day?" Sirius asked, and Harry noticed that Snape was... cuddling against his godfather. He wondered whether or not this was actually a dream or reality.

"Hot chocolates for you both," Tom said, coming into the room. He didn't even bother to offer Snape some, probably knowing that any food or drinks would make him even more irate than placate him. Handing Sirius his hot chocolate, Tom sat down in his favourite armchair and pulled Harry onto his lap, pressing the young teen flush against his front. Harry blushed at the move, but otherwise didn't say anything, preferring to just sip at the warm, sweet liquid Tom made for him.

He sighed and melted against the firm chest behind him, relishing in the silence of the room. Soon, Harry was dozing off on Tom's lap, his heartbeat lulling him into a deeper sleep, and his presence guarding him from any nightmares that would occasionally visit him.

* * *

Tom sighed in irritation. "No luck on finding evidence against her, then?"

"Nope, not a single one," Severus grumbled. "The twins showed me some of the spare ingredients that she had in her trunk, and though more than half of it weren't on the school list, and was borderline questionable... they weren't illegal."

"She's a slippery one," Sirius admitted. "And unless she gave Harry some more of her enchanted items, I won't be able to put it forward to the Ministry. As sorry as they are, they are still fools, so I wouldn't be surprised if they'd rather listen to the claims of an underage student rather than listening to an ex-convict--one whom escaped Azkaban at that."

"I guess," Tom growled, a hand rubbing Harry's back in a constant up and down motion. Up, down, up, down, it grounded him to feel the teen's form against his body, cuddled up to his front. "Why does she have to lay low right now..." Tom grumbled, throwing his head back in exasperation.

"Who knows... she probably suspects that something's going on," Sirius shrugged. "Besides, you should put Harry to a bed, I don't think that that's a very comfortable position to stay in for long."

"It's getting late," Tom agreed. It was almost dinnertime, and he didn't know whether to wake Harry up for dinner or not. He'd looked so... tired lately, and with that, Tom's been having so many wet dreams... He suspected that it was actually Harry's dreams, and he was just accessing it because the two had a soulmate bond, but it was just odd. They haven't consummated their mate ship--well, technically they did, back when they were forging the bond--but that's not the point.

Harry was still a virgin in both mind and body, and he wanted to wait until Harry came to him for it. It was a good thing he was patient,  _very_ patient due to his line of work. Managing Death Eaters need patience, just so you know.

"You can just call for a house elf, you know, if you're planning on skipping dinner but feel hungry afterwards," Sirius suggested.

"Or you can go to the kitchen. I heard that Potter's quite the celebrity amongst the house elves," Severus mumbled against Sirius' shoulder. He seemed to be getting drowsy, and his hand was rubbing at both his and Sirius' baby bumps. Tom nodded, grateful for the information, and proceeded to carry Harry bridal style and changed his clothes into a set of pajamas before he laid down to get some shut-eye.

Really, he wasn't as young as he used to be, and that many wet dreams was just... too draining for him.

* * *

Albus sighed as he closed the book. It was a great read, really, but if everything in there were to happen... his plans wouldn't fall into place. Sticking to this universe's reality seemed to be the best path for his plans to commence. But, to think that Sirius Black, the Black Lord, to succumb to the Black Madness... Well, that wasn't supposed to happen, the Black Madness curse was created by the family Lord, and was designed to never happen to the Lords and Heirs.

It was one of the ways that the Blacks back then made to see who was deemed worthy to be a Lord in Lady Magick's eyes. Well, at least in this universe, Harry still doesn't know that Remus was a werewolf... yet.

The Headmaster sighed and stood. He wondered what the house elves made for dinner....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know, this is more of a filler than an actual, plot-moving chapter... I mean, I just watched Nigahiga's How To Be An Anime Superhero or something. It was hilarious XD though that's not where this chapter's inspiration came from. I made some Ghost Hunt references, it's a horror anime that made me not want to go to the bathroom alone for months back when I couldn't differ between mind and reality. I took Conan's (from Detective Conan... or Case Closed) advice, that ghosts are just things created by our own fear. They're not real... though they are, just that they don't really bother you unless you or someone else bothers them first (yes, I've been saying this a lot, I've been getting lots of complaints here in RL so like yeah)
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	26. Christmas Surprises!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I'm late! I think. Sorry for the delay, I just got hit by a huge ball of inspiration because of a dream I had, where I got butchered up in an island that clearly wanted to kill me! And for a dream, the pain felt sorta real, like phantom feels or whatever you call it. So I drafted up a series, an original work, in wattpad. It's still mostly a draft where each chapter has a starting point and an ending point so that I could reach the ending I've planned, and so far I've posted... 5 chapters, 6 this Saturday and I'm totally excited to write it 'till the finishing point, though the story will not be my main focus... for now. Though I admit I'll have later updates on this one since I add on the go for this story.
> 
> And also, the days passed, I used for some more planning on this fic too, and there are just a heck lot of points that I wanna put in before ending this fic XD So please, bear with me. So, like, yeah. New chapter here, enjoy~

Harry was amazed. The Black Mansion--renovated--was... amazing is such an understatement. He'd gotten a vague image of it before, when Sirius told him about it. Dark, creaky, gloomy, practically falling apart since it hasn't been used in... a few generations? Decades? He didn't know the exact time frame for that, but he gathered that it was quite a long time ago. Now...

Now it was absolutely breathtaking.

Lighter colours adorned the outer walls, beige and red, with tastefully carved pillars on the ground floor. It had a huge kitchen that would be every cook's wildest dreams, every baker's fantasy. The dining room was also tastefully done, with the same red and beige as its main colours. The hallways were decorated with flowers and paintings of sceneries, both magical and muggle ones.

On the upper floor were bedrooms, lots of it. It was supposed to be Remus' present, Sirius said, for when they had children one day. Of course, he didn't take into account that the three of them had to be bonded _first_ before they couldhave kids. When he realized, he was already in Azkaban anyways, so he couldn't make any changes on it.

Harry had his own bedroom, where the walls were painted sky blue and had moving snitches in them. His bed was a queen sized bed with dark blue sheets and bright red and gold pillows. The floor was covered in red and gold carpeting, and there were other furniture that was strategically placed here and there, with colouring that fit the room's design. Harry was absolutely ecstatic when he found that this room was his and his alone--there were wards that he could customize himself, curtesy to Remus (who was smiling with a knowing twinkle in his eyes), and a whole shelf with no books in them.

He also had a balcony that oversaw the back garden, which he would be in charge of, along with Severus.

"Thanks, Sirius!" Harry said, excitement making him bounce in place as his eyes twinkled happily. He was eager to explore the place even more, and do many things within the upcoming months in which he'll be staying there.

"You're welcome, pup," Sirius beamed, happy that his efforts weren't wasted.

Later, Harry found a huge swimming pool and a large Jacuzzi-like tub beside it, where the water was warm enough to sit in for hours even in winter.

They'd also decided that they should invite the Weasleys and the Grangers for Christmas, which made Severus groan and grumble angrily while rubbing his stomach. Tom was alright with all of it happening, especially when he saw that Harry was practically beaming with happiness when the decided that. Though, he was slightly worried about that Ginerva girl doing something to Harry, which made him decide what gift he'll give him in Christmas... after they did their Yule rituals, of course.

* * *

The floo flared green, and out came the very familiar voice of Molly Weasley, who immediately hugged him right after she landed, with a, "Harry! How are you, dear?"

"I'm fine Mrs. Weasley," Harry said shyly.

"Oh, come on now, just call me Molly, dear," she smiled kindly.

"Sure, um, Molly," Harry nodded before extracting himself from her arms as more and more of the redheads stepped out of the floo.

"Harry!"

"Mate!"

"How are you--"

"Cool place!"

And more of their usual greeting words and smiles and hugs, mostly from the girls, as they stepped out of the floo and into the newly renovated mansion. Tom, like the proper host he was, directed them to the dining room, where Harry had served an army's worth of feast, just as the Grangers stepped in through the floo, Hermione grinning like mad as her parents--and sister, apparently--looked put out and baffled. With a wave of Molly's wand, the soot covering them from head to toe was cleaned up, and Hermione immediately hugged Harry.

"Harry! Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas, Hermione," Harry managed as much as he could when his mouth was filled with her bushy hair. After a few formal greetings from the rest of the Grangers, whose eyes had bulged almost out of their sockets at the sight of Sirius and Severus, they sat down for dinner.

It wasn't a quiet affair, as expected, but it was fun nonetheless. Tom had been keeping Harry within his line of sight, as well as Ginerva. She'd been acting... normal, though that in itself was suspicious. Heck, every breath she took was suspicious, and that just put him on edge. "Present time!" Ron declared right after dinner had ended, his exclamation followed by Hermione's sister's as she excitedly ran into the room which held the huge tree.

Athena Granger, 7 years old. The little sister of one Hermione Granger. She was surprisingly  _not_ like her older sister. Where she was studious and a stickler for rules, Athena was more like the Weasley twins, though her mischievousness was toned down slightly due to her parents being as strict as they were. And it seems like the twins and her were getting really cozy with each other.

Harry got many gifts, mainly chocolate and Quidditch-related things from the Weasleys, books from the Grangers and Remus and Snape, a few prank items from Sirius and the twins, and a mystery present that he could only open when alone from the twins, which Harry suspected was even more prank items judging by the glare Mrs. Weasley was giving the two troublemakers.

Tom said that his present will be given later, and he couldn't wait until Tom gave him his present.

The present exchange was fun, but sadly it had to end when Athena started yawning and Ginny's head started to drop. Many hugs and goodbye's later, Harry and Tom went to their respective rooms, while Sirius, Remus, and Snape relaxed in the drawing room. As soon as the door closed, Harry immediately opened the mystery present from Fred and George, excited to see what new, fun prank items they had in store for him.

Which was why Harry was confused when he found that inside, there were... odd things. Plastic balls strung together by a strand of plastic or something, a small, egg-shaped ball with a tail that led to some sort of ring, a few phials of nice-smelling liquid labelled with 'orange', 'strawberry', and a few other things. Grabbing a transparent cylinder out of the box, Harry jumped when a knock sounded at the door.

"Come in!" he called out, a grin breaking free when he saw Tom open the door.

"Harry, I brought the..." he trailed off, his eyes widening when he saw what was in Harry's hand.

"Your present?" Harry said excitedly, placing the transparent and oddly flexible item back into the present box.

"Erm, yeah, your present," Tom coughed to clear his throat. Harry excitedly opened the present, oblivious to the looks Tom sent Harry while glancing at the opened present box. Inside was a beautiful bracelet, made of wood and bordered by what looks like silver, inlaid with several emeralds and rubies and shaped like a wave of snakes. Taking the bracelet into his hand, Tom slipped the item onto Harry's wrist.

"This is a promise bracelet," Tom explained, showing Harry one of his own, one with a darker colour to the wood. "It's enchanted so that nothing harmful could come your way, and I've even added a few anti-mind controlling spells, as well as a few basic Occlumency enchantments so that no one could enter your mind without your knowledge."

"Thank you, Tom," Harry said with awe, his eyes wide and twinkling brightly with happiness as he inspected the bracelet. "It's beautiful."

"You're welcome," Tom smiled, kissing Harry lightly on his lips. "Now, may I ask who gave you that present?" Tom asked with a slightly darker tone to his voice.

"Oh, it was Fred and George," Harry told him. "Though I don't know how to use these things... They don't really look like prank items, now that I think about it..." Harry said thoughtfully with a frown. "They did put in a note in there, but it only said to have fun with the toys..."

Tom's eyes widened a fraction in surprise, laughing outright after a while. Harry didn't know why he was laughing, but found himself entranced at the sound Tom was making. It was deep and melodious, and he could picture himself getting caressed by that sound, though how that was possible he didn't know. One thing for sure, was that he'd definitely love to hear that sound again.

"Impossible," Tom said between chuckles now that his laughter had died down. "I don't know how they knew, but I'm quite surprised that they found out..."

"They found out... about us...?" Harry asked in slight alarm. He hadn't even told anyone, other than Sirius and Remus and Snape about his relationship with Tom, and even then Snape and Sirius had seen firsthand how they acted together, and Remus had just somehow known about them.

"Yes, it's impossible, but they did it anyways," Tom sighed. "I knew that they were far more gifted than most of the students in Hogwarts."

"Oh..." Harry's expression was resigned, knowing that the cat's out of the bag for the twins. "How did you know?"

"Well, just by looking at that box over there," Tom shrugged.

"You know what those are?" Harry asked curiously. He didn't know what to do with all those odd things, so he was hoping that Tom could shed light to whatever those were.

"Of course, these are... toys, just as they said."

"How do you play with them?"

"Do you really want to know?" Tom asked, his voice huskier than it was a few moments ago, his breath brushing Harry's ear. When he nodded, he didn't know why but a shiver of arousal swept through him. A hand slipped into his trousers, cupping his bum and making his face go beet red.

"W-why are you touching my bum...?" he asked, though he suspected the answer was... he didn't even want to put said thoughts into words.

"Ah, you wanted to know how to play with those toys, and I'm just telling you how," Tom smirked, and Harry yelped when he felt the hand slide into his underwear and a finger rubbed against his entrance.

"You mean you put those... into my bum...?" he asked, his eyes seeking confirmation as his whole body shivered in arousal.

"Correct," Tom smiled, taking his hand out of his trousers lest he become tempted to do more than light teasing. Harry immediately missed the feeling of Tom's finger rubbing against his bum hole, and he clenched his butt in the futile hope that he could feel that finger pressing there again. "Good night, Harry," Tom said, kissing him once more before he went out to his room to sleep.

"Good night... Tom," Harry said quietly, and as soon as the door closed, he immediately took the present box with him to bed. There was just... something about Tom giving his bum hole a little bit of pressure that made him want more. It was an odd feeling, and he didn't know what to do with it.

Nervously casting a silencing and locking spell, he took off his trousers and underwear along with it, and placed a finger at the same spot Tom rubbed at. It was an odd feeling, the feeling of his finger touching something so sensitive and warm, and all wrinkly. The thought that it was the place where poop came out from crossed his mind once, only to be forgotten in favour to the feeling of someone else touching such an intimate place.

Pushing a little bit more, he stopped when he felt an odd sting of pain when just a little bit of his finger got in. He needed something to soothe the pain, something slippery... soap, maybe? He didn't like the thought of putting soap into his bum, the last time some soap got into his bum hole, it had hurt, and that was an accident. No, he needed something like soap, but  _not_ soap at the same time...

Those phials, he wondered what they were. It looked like there was liquid inside. Taking out one that said 'strawberry', Harry dipped his finger inside, surprising himself when he found that the liquid was quite slippery. And it smelled like strawberries, but he didn't care. He found something that would help him with his exploration. Rubbing his fingers together, he rubbed a bit of the slippery liquid onto his bum hole and was surprised how arousing that felt.

The feeling of a finger inside his bum hole was weird, but he sort of liked it... he thinks. He didn't know what to do next, though, so he pulled out his finger--which was an even odder feeling than when he put his finger in. But again, as strange as the feeling was, he wanted... more. More of that feeling, more of whatever he's doing, and he doesn't even know what he's doing.

Suddenly, he felt the wards in his room shift, and before he could pull out his finger, the door opened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A cliffie!!! I've been awake since 2 AM this morning, and now it's 1:16 AM so please don't blame me if I made some mistakes somewhere... more like, point them out if you find them--I'm just about ready to sleep now... Well, seems like little Harry isn't so innocent now, is he? *grin
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	27. Tortilla Chips & Cream Cheese

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention this, but to everyone who has reviewed/commented, thank you so very much! Hugs and cookies from me! Though I haven't replied to quite a few of them, it's because I haven't gone around to doing it (read: being too lazy to open the inbox thing in AO3 lel) And I've been on a few projects no thanks to my University, so I've also been busy... And the only reprieve I've got from it all surprisingly came from making sprites (well, other than reading fanfics, that is...)
> 
> Kill me now... I'm actually anticipating the day I chop my hand off, if only to stop myself from writing. Though, admittedly, all of the more harmful objects I possessed are now far, far away from me... *sigh... Anyone good at C/C++? I don't know where my code went wrong...
> 
> Okay, enough of my rant, on to the chapter!

"Ahh, now that we're alone, the place's rather quiet, don't you think?" Remus asked conversationally, his eyes while fixed to the burning fire was actually watching Severus' relaxed form, sitting in the armchair right next to him. Sirius had gone to the kitchen to fetch something, and the werewolf was looking forward to whatever the ex-convict was getting, knowing that it can't possibly be something prank-natured.

Of course, he'd forbidden it ever since he nearly fell over from laughter after he'd pranked both he and Severus, and what's more he'd also forbidden the potions master from any kind of potions creation, seeing as it'd be a risk to their babies' life. Babies. Their babies. His heart swelled with emotion at the thought--he didn't think that Sirius would ever give in to the fact that Severus being their third mate.

Seems like, Azkaban has its purpose after all, though the side-effects weren't something he'd like for anyone, much less for his own mate.

"Indeed," Severus agreed after a while, his black eyes watching Remus closely. The werewolf looked content, his eyes soft as he gazed into the fire. He didn't even seem to have registered the potions master's agreement. He felt some movement inside his bloated abdomen, and a rare smile creeped up his face before he could stop it. They said that being a mother, being pregnant is a magical feeling. Before, he'd scoff at the words, unable to understand  _why_ that was.

But now... Nothing could beat the magical feeling of having a baby or two moving, growing inside you. Not even the most powerful of magic could best it, and of that he was certain. Rubbing his now-huge abdomen lovingly, he carefully got up, his legs sore from just standing for a few minutes, and walked over to Remus' side. The werewolf's amber eyes met his obsidian ones, and as if an order had been issued, Severus placed himself to the werewolf's right.

A hand immediately came up to pull him closer to him, and he sighed as he leaned into the werewolf's warmth.

"This is nice," Severus murmured.

"Agreed, though I'd love it even more if Sirius is here," Remus nodded, liking Severus' weight to his side.

"Well, if that's what you want," Severus snorted, "the mutt could cuddle on your other side and sleep. I won't take for any more rowdiness from him, the Weasleys and Grangers were rowdy enough to last me a lifetime."

"What did I say about calling each other names?" Remus reprimanded him gently, knowing that it was just an old habit that Severus was just trying to break. With time, he hoped that they'd get over each other's differences.

Severus just glared at him, his hormones making him feel unnaturally angry at Remus. Sensing his anger, the werewolf's hand kneaded on the potions master's back, where he could feel a tense spot relax within moments. The anger he had dissipated in favor of the pleasure the simple massage gave him. "Oh, yes, right there," Severus moaned. Smirking, the werewolf continued his ministrations, his nether regions stirring at the sounds Severus was making.

He hoped that Sirius would come soon so that he could enjoy having both mates right beside him.

* * *

"Well, well, well, little Harry is growing up," Tom smirked as his eyes devoured the delicious sight of a bottoms-less Harry with his legs spread, and a finger buried deep within his arse. He's a monster, alright, and he definitely wanted to devour his little soulmate whole and leave nothing behind. The blush that coloured the boy's cheeks and neck was just too adorable to not get hard to.

"T-Tom!" he cried as he furiously tried to get the finger out of his arse, possibly hurting himself in the mean time. "You should've knocked on the door!"

"I did," Tom replied coolly, walking over towards the panicking and thoroughly embarrassed teen. His hand stilled Harry's, and pulled at it gently, almost teasingly, until the whole finger was out. A simple cleaning charm wiped away any traces of said finger ever going into the red, twitching virgin entrance. Barely stopping himself from licking his lips, he continued, "But you didn't answer. I guess you put up a silencing charm and forgot that the charm works both ways?"

The surprise was evident in the boy's emerald eyes. Tom chuckled in response, a hand reaching for the strawberry lube Harry had used. He took a whiff of the substance and gave Harry an amused look. The teen's face became even redder than before, if that was even possible, and the older wizard decided that the flush looked adorable on his face. With a swift kiss to the teen's lips, his tongue darting a little to have a little taste of him, his finger dipped into the open phial, coating it with slick substance that smelled of strawberries.

"Sex Ed time, Harry," he grinned, a hungry light entering his eyes. "I'll teach you how to do it right, and how to make it so good that you won't be able to do it by yourself anymore."

"D-do what...?" Harry gulped, the husky quality to Tom's usually smooth voice doing wonders to his already aroused body.

"You were doing it before, and you didn't even know what you were doing?" Tom asked, amused. The expression was quickly replaced by lust when he realized that Harry was just exploring, and also the fact that he'd be helping the teen explore what being in a same-sex relationship truly meant. "Such a naughty child, fingering himself and yet not knowing why people do it..."

"Eep!" Harry exclaimed when he felt a finger--that same finger that touched him earlier--rub at his entrance, spreading the slick substance around before pushing inside. A startled moan escaped the teen's lips, and his face reddened in embarrassment at the sound. That was such an odd sound.

Tom bit his lip to hold back his own moan, his mind already wondering how it would feel for this... this hot, tight heat to surround his member. And he only had one,  _one,_ finger inside. He slowly moved the finger in and out of the tight heat, relishing in the confused yet aroused look Harry had on his face.

"T-Tom, stop, please," he pleaded, yet the muscles surrounding his finger tightened around it, as if the idea of letting go of his finger was bad, repulsive, the idea of having him inside, stroking the muscles inside the best idea he'd ever had. "St--op, please, it f-feels weird..."

"Does it?" he asked, reinserting the finger in search of that special spot. Hooking his finger, he immediately knew that he'd found it when Harry cried out loud, his whole body shivering, his back arching in pleasure, tears appearing in his eyes at the sudden orgasm that blinded him. Transparent liquid shot out of his piss slit, hitting Tom's and his chest and chin.

As his body went lax, he started to cry in earnest.

"I-I told you to stop," he sobbed. "Why didn't you?"

Not knowing what to do with the pang of... guilt? Something, that went through his chest, he kissed away the tears on his mate's face. "I only wanted to teach you how to make it feel good," he said right into the teen's ear. "You were hurting yourself, and I didn't want you to feel pain from doing this at all."

"I-I was...?" he asked.

"Yesssssssss, Harry," Tom hissed, his creature side rearing up at the thought of Harry hurting himself accidentally. "The way you were positioning your finger, it could injure you wrist.... and had you gone on to prepare yourself without the proper knowledge of  _how_ to.... You might also rip your anus..."

"R-r-rip my anus...???" Harry asked, shocked at the revelation.

"Yes," Tom nodded. "Too much stretching too fast would do that to you. And proper lubrication helps too in the preparation, and you were using too little of it."

"Wh-what about the... umm, this...?" Harry asked, scooping some of his come and showing it to Tom. He resisted the urge to taste his mate's come as he explained.

"That's your sperm... your seed, if you will," he calmly said. "It's what you use to... impregnate me, if you so desire," he scowled. "Though I'd prefer if I were to impregnate you."

"Oh, wow..." Harry said in awe. Looking at the liquid on his finger, he gave a curious lick, which aroused Tom even more. "It tastes bitter," he said with a frown.

"It's mostly made of protein," Tom shrugged. Harry hummed.

"Do you have these too?" Harry asked again.

"Yes, Harry, every boy makes these from their... penises."

"Oh..." he said, contemplating something. "Do yours taste bitter too?"

An innocent question, but the image sent a wave of arousal right through Tom's body. "Oh, I don't know..." he nearly hissed.

"Can I try?"

 _Oh god, he's going to be the death of me,_ Tom groaned. "Do you truly want to?"

Harry nodded. Tom sighed and took off his pants and boxers, letting his erection free. He suddenly remembered that night, where Harry was curious about his erection... and had innocently given him one of the best handjobs he'd ever had. Harry gasped at the sight.

"Is something bothering your again?!" Harry asked, his eyes wide.

"Oh, no, Harry, this is a natural thing to happen... like wet dreams, you see."

"Really?" Harry asked, his hand reaching out to touch hardness that was Tom's erection. At the sight of Harry's delicate, small fingers closing in on his erection, his member began weeping.

"Lick it," Tom commanded. Harry's eyes met his questioningly. "You said you wanted to taste it, right? What better way to lick it?"

"But... isn't it dirty?" Harry asked skeptically.

"Well, I wash myself there everyday, if that's what you're asking," he stated, and his member hardened even more, if that was possible, at the sight of Harry's blush. Squirming a little, Harry tentatively, hesitantly, licked on the tip of his erect member, and the kitten lick felt  _so good._ And the sight of Harry's pink tongue retreating into his mouth with a little bit of his emission was--

"It tastes... weird," Harry observed, his words breaking Tom's line of thought. "But I think... I think I like it," he decided with a smile, and proceeded to latch onto his head.  _Fuck,_ if that hot, wet mouth wouldn't be the end of him, he didn't know what will.... Wait, he did know what will be the end of him--Harry's tight, virgin ass.

An experimental suck made Tom's hips jerk forward, forcing a little more of his erection into Harry's stretched lips. A surprised moan sounded in Harry's throat, and the vibrations made Tom groan. But he tried to hold himself still when Harry's wet, hot mouth retreated. His green gaze stared at Tom's weeping erection contemplatively, a few times glancing over to Tom's face.

He seemingly had made a decision, because a moment later, he'd taken Tom's length as much as he could into his mouth. Tom nearly came when he felt his tip brush against Harry's swallowing throat, a few inches of his length unable to fit into Harry's small mouth. A caressing tongue was his undoing, apparently, because the wet muscle traced the vein on his member, and licked on his tip as if it was on a quest while only his member's head was in Harry's mouth.

"Harry, I'm gonna--" Tom shouted, but at that time, Harry was just trying to suck more of his pre into his mouth. The come filling the teen's mouth startled him, and a few drops slipped down his chin. Harry's face was positively debauched when he pulled the softening member out of his mouth. Taking a deep breath, Tom commanded him to swallow, and he did.

_God, that was so hot..._

"You taste different from me, Tom," Harry told him. "You taste a little bit... sweeter, I think?"

Getting down on his knees, Tom immediately ravished his mouth, tasting himself on his Harry's tongue. And he was right; he tasted sweeter than he remembered. He began licking and kissing his face, neck, ears--everywhere he could reach. The taste of Harry, his scent, his warmth, everything turned him on. But he wasn't ready yet. Reluctantly pulling away, he gave the teen one final kiss on his cute nose.

"You're wonderful, Harry," he said gently, so much of his love for his soulmate poured into that one sentence. "So, very perfect, every inch of you," he nuzzled Harry's neck. "And you know what's the best thing about this is?" Harry shook his head, baring his throat to Tom's attention. Pulling back to look straight into those green, green eyes, he said, "It's the fact that you're mine... as much as I'm yours."

Harry practically melted at his words.

* * *

"What, pray tell, is that?" Severus asked once Sirius came in, floating behind him were bowls upon bowls of some triangular things.

"These, Severus, are tortilla chips!" he announced. "Best eaten with cream cheese!"

Taking one and taking a tentative bite, Severus nodded. "This is an acceptable taste, though I must disagree with the cream cheese. I'd rather avocado and chilli sauce with some powdered sugar to go with these," he nodded. Remus looked green with the suggestion, but Sirius' eyes seemed to light up at it.

"That'd be perfect!" he declared, and with a swish of his wand, avocado, diced and mixed with the chilli sauce appeared in a huge bowl, and some powdered sugar rained above it. "What do you think?"

"Perfect," Severus grinned, and both of them settled themselves each on either of the werewolf's side.

"I wonder if Harry's alright... I hope he sleep peacefully," Sirius said between bites.

"Oh, please, knowing Rid-Marvolo, he'd probably be in Harry's room right about now," Severus snorted.

"WHAT?!" Sirius exclaimed. "He'd better not be touching my godson in any inappropriate way!"

"Well, they  _are_ mates," Remus pointed out. "Keeping their hands to themselves would be a little bit... difficult, speaking from my own experience."

Guilt passed through the Black Lord before anger replaced it.

"I will not condone any inappropriate things happening in this house, under my watch!" Sirius declared. "I, Sirius Orion Black, hereby declare that one Thomas Eoin Marvolo, to be under the Black Chastity Curse, until I declare otherwise! So mote it be!"

A wave of magic came, and pure Black Magic solidified his declaration. "Until Harry is of age, he shan't be touched in any inappropriate way from him!"

Both Remus and Severus looked at each other in amusement.

In Harry's room, just as Harry snuggled into Tom's chest, the Dark Lord felt magic wrap around him, more specifically, at the base of his member's length and the entirety of his testicles. He could feel the Chastity Curse being placed upon him, and he sighed. He knew that it was Black who did it, since he was legally and magically Harry's guardian. He just hoped that his days of celibacy would end sooner rather than later.

After all, everyone knew that the Chastity Curse is practically a forced celibacy period, cast by magical guardians to protect their heirs and children from any untoward suitors that came upon them. He just didn't expect Black to put one on him.

The coming days are going to be hell, and he knew it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I now officially hate the preview button. Anyways, anyone else watching Rilu Rilu Fairilu? It's SUPER cute XD I seriously ship Lip and the blue-haired guy (still don't know his name lol) Anyways, I decided that I won't be too cruel in this chapter, though I can't guarantee this for the next chapters... Also, if you like my stories, please don't forget to check out my other works in wattpad and ffnet!
> 
> \---- To be continued --
> 
> P.S. This chapter didn't make much sense to me either... I can feel the start of caffeine overdose here...


	28. Starring Role

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is written out of impulse, and yes, I'm referring to Marina And The Diamonds' song, Starring Role, it's a great song (that keeps me distracted from my studies... err, most of them, at least) that you should listen to. I like the acoustic version better, though. And so! The point of view you were all possibly not waiting for--Ginerva Weasley! Please come on stage, and let's begin!

She hated them. Professor Lupin, Professor Snape, the Black Family head--and most of all, Professor Marvolo. Though she did admit that the latter was handsome, and that she  _might_ have had a crush on him, they weren't a Potter. They wouldn't be able to elevate her status into a Lady, pampered with riches that would never run out, showered with the attention of the most wanted bachelor in the whole world, one who looks so innocent and handsome, alluring and sensual, yet seemed not to notice his own charms, which made him all the more charming.

Everyone knew of Harry Potter, internationally. He was the only person to have ever survived the killing curse, and many people sought him--if not for research purposes, then for marriage purposes. Thanks to one Albus Dumbledore, though, he was still in the dark about such advances, but she wasn't. Even a blind person could see that he will grow, was still growing into a handsome young man.

And he was the richest person in the whole world, since he was the only Potter heir.

And also strongest, magically.

And most famous.

Most sought out.

And she  _will_ have him.

And if he wants to be dominated by someone seemingly stronger than him? That'll be no problem.

* * *

Tom could hear Harry giggle as his morning wood poked something. Why was he in his bed, though? His memory of last night was a bit fuzzy due to sleep, and only when he felt a tentative finger trail down his shaft did he remember. Harry getting sex toys from the Weasley twins... and how he looked as he orgasmed. His prick hardened, becoming more and more interested due to last night's memories, and the hesitant, yet eager touches from Harry's small hand was making heat coil below his belly.

The need was there, boiling and driving him crazy, but for some reason, nothing was coming out.

That's when he remembered; he felt the Chastity Curse magic wash over him, and he cursed as he had a dry orgasm, his back arching as he did so. Panting, he opened his eyes, finding Harry's confused green eyes. Said eyes were looking at the still-erect member, which twitched at the attention he was giving.

Pulling Harry on top of him, he immediately ravished his small, delicious lips with a hunger that expressed how he felt. Harry's hips buckled against Tom's torso, and from the moans and mewls he was making, he knew that he was close. So,  _so_ close--

"Tom!" he cried out as he came, his red, plump lips making an 'o' and his eyes shutting ever so slowly. The red blush that covered his face and travelled down his chest made him all the more beautiful. Had he not been under the Chastity Curse, he'd have came right then and there. He leaned up to nibble on Harry's neck which was bared to him as he rode out his orgasm, marking him.

Gods, he was beautiful.

He rubbed his back as Harry rode out his high, knowing that while Harry could find release, he couldn't. He was alright with that. Well, not completely, but he was...

Okay, he was frustrated at not being able to achieve relief with Harry, but what can he do? He'd probably have to wait for four, five years until Harry was of age--until he could legally give him his consent in marriage and finally deflower him... Curse Black for cursing him with the blue balls curse. His creature side growled at being unable to impregnate his mate at any time he wanted, though his human side knew why it was cast in the first place.

How those people downstairs knew what he was doing with Harry, he didn't know, though he suspect that Severus had a hand in this--somehow.

"Tom?" Harry asked timidly after he'd caught his breath. "Your... sperm didn't come out...?"

"No, Harry, I didn't cum," Tom admitted, knowing that somehow avoiding this sort of conversation wouldn't end in the way he'd prefer.

"Is it... Was I bad?" he asked fearfully, his eyes widening, and tears starting to appear in those green, green eyes.

"No, Harry, it wasn't you," Tom shushed, bringing a hand up to stroke Harry's hair tenderly. The teen practically purred at the contact, and he leaned into the warm hand as tom explained. "Last night, one of your guardians set a Chastity Curse upon me."

"One of my... Sirius?" he asked, as he nuzzled into Tom's hand.

"I suppose, though I don't have any evidence that it was him."

"Hmm... So... what does that mean? The curse, what does it do?"

"Well, to put it simply, I'm not allowed to come, nor will I be able to find pleasure anywhere."

"Find pleasure anywhere...?"

"I meant if I used some of these things here--and I assure you I could come if I used these correctly." Harry blushed at his words when he pointed out the items from Fred and George. Tom smirked, at least now he knew what those toys are for... mainly.

"Wait, then, that means that I can't carry your children...?" Harry asked.

"Well, technically, yes. To conceive, you'd need sperm from your partner, and both of our magic to mingle to first create the magic womb, and then the foetus."

Something gleamed in Harry's eyes as Tom was explaining, but it was so quick that the Dark Lord wondered if he'd imagined it.

"I'll go ask Siri about the curse later," he promised. "How about a bath?"

Tom stared at him for a while.

"Together? Are you sure, Harry?"

When the teen nodded, they stayed in bed for half an hour more as Tom ravished his mouth until he came a second time. It left Harry feel pretty wobbly on his feet, but it also left him feeling very elated.

* * *

"... No, really Albus, I don't know what I should do with that place..."

Sirius' voice said, coming from somewhere in the study room. Harry quietly walked inside, closing the door behind him with a silent click, a trick he'd learnt back at the Dursleys, where  _no one_ wanted him, knew of his existence. He silently walked up to his godfather, who was kneeling on a soft pillow with his head stuck in the floo.

"... I'd rather those items be destroyed, since most of them are-- yeah, yeah, fine. As long as it's not-- alright, Albus..."

Harry patiently waited until Sirius disconnected the floo and noticed him.

"Harry! Pup, what're you doing here?" Sirius asked him. "Have you had breakfast yet? It still a bit early, but I think Remus could whip something up in seconds--"

"Sirius, may I ask a question?" Harry started, his tone calm, though there was something in his words that made Sirius hesitate.

"Umm, sure? What do you want to know, pup?"

"Why did you cast a Chastity Curse on Tom?"

Sirius gulped.

"Well, I didn't want you to take things too far, since you're still a pup, and--"

The candles flickered ever so slightly.

"--and you're still 13! Not even at the age of consent yet, and I don't want him putting ideas in your head--"

Something rattled in the distance.

"--and then getting you up the duff! I won't condone anything sexual to come to my godson, mate or no mate!"

Harry's eyes were glowing with power when he lifted his  _Avada Kedavra_ eyes towards Sirius' silver ones.

"And you didn't discuss this with me?" he asked quietly.

"Umm--"

"And you just cast it on him without his consent too?"

"Harry, pup, I can explain--"

"No need," Harry put a hand up in a placating gesture, though his eyes contained barely restrained anger. "I understand why you did what you've done, though I'd like to have some... say the next time you curse my mate."

Sirius gulped at the chilly tone Harry used--it didn't sound like his godson at all, but at the same time... it was something he knew he'd say to him sooner or later.

"I'll go make breakfast. You stay here until either Severus or Remus comes in to drag you to breakfast."

And with that, he was gone. Only now did the Black Family head see how much destruction Harry's barely restrained magic created.

Sirius just stood there, dumbfounded and unable to find anywhere where he could place his foot without injuring himself in the process. Plus, he could feel Harry's magic erecting some sort of ward into his study, and he knew without a doubt that unless Harry allows it, he won't be leaving the study room for the foreseeable future.

He knew then that he'd made a huge mistake--and unfortunately, he didn't know  _how_ to lift the Chastity Curse, especially the Black Chastity Curse. Well, other than getting married, that is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He's SO screwed XD By the way, Rozielrie asked me if in Harry's fourth year, there'll be a triwizard tournament. Now, I know you all would be like, 'I want the tournament!' or 'I don't want the tournament!' or 'Meh, whatever sails your boat.' That's not what I'm asking. I want your input--if I put in the tournament, what kind of challenge would you want Harry to face?
> 
> TBH, I didn't even think about the tournament until she (?) pointed it out, so I have no idea what I should put in. I thought Consuming Shadows by Child-OTKW was awesome, so maybe using other challenges rather than the one in the books would make this story a bit more interesting. I'm considering unicorns, dragons, dementors, and maybe Fluffy wants to join in?
> 
> Tell me what you think, and thank you for reading!
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	29. Spring Cleaning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if January is considered Winter or Spring, and I also think that Spring cleaning should be done sometime in March... But hey--I live in a tropical place (which means it's the rainy season right now and--there goes another thunder...) so I'm sorta completely in the dark about this, so let's say that it's the end of January and the start of February, yeah?
> 
> Also, big thank yous for everyone who gave me your opinions, I appreciate your responses! I've decided what the first challenge is--and yes, I've also decided that there will be a tournament! Whooo! Next chapter, here we go!

"I'm not sure what lurks in here, Albus, I'll warn you about that," Sirius said, pushing the door to his childhood house open. It was dark and creepy, dusty and filled with who-knows-what. Stuffed house-elf heads hung on the dark, cob-webbed walls, curtains hung, most if not all of them moth-eaten.

"Well I'll say! I thought the Black Family have house-elves to aid with house cleaning?" Molly asked, her expression scandalized at the state the house was in.

"There should be..." Sirius mumbled. "Kreacher!"

There was a pop, and the oddest house-elf anyone had ever seen popped into existence right in front of them.

"Traitorous Master Black came back... Kreacher is not knowing why Kreacher cames to his call, but Mistress will bes furious if she sees traitorous Master Black being here, oh she will, she will!" he mumbled under his breath, even as he bowed to Sirius.

"Kreacher, why have you not cleaned this place?"

"Oh, says traitorous Master Black to poor, poor Kreacher! Master Black too has Black heir spawns on the way, oh he has. Kreacher will be telling Mistress about this oh Kreacher will!"

"Answer my question, elf!" Sirius said irately.

"Kreacher has not thinking traitorous Master Black bes coming back, no Kreacher hasn't," he mumbled before walking away. Sirius just rolled his eyes at the demented house-elf and turned to his guests.

"You heard him, and I would bet anything that he wouldn't be helping us with the cleaning," he grumbled the last part.

"Well, Sirius, my boy, I guess we'll all just have to start cleaning, don't we?"

"Sure," Sirius shrugged. "You're the one who wanted to make this place a meeting point of some sort. Just be careful about the hidden portrait, the one with curtains? You won't like it if you woke up the occupant."

"Noted," Molly said. "Now come on boys! Let's start with the kitchen and the dining room!" Grumbles came from the people who'd come with them for the cleaning of Grimmauld Place. At least the children are in Hogwarts at this time of year...

* * *

Classes started as usual, with everyone asking everyone how their holidays were, about homework and this and that--at least Harry felt like a normal child at this time of year. It was also the first time he'd not stayed in Hogwarts for the whole holidays. The Golden Trio went about their days as usual, with Snape and Sirius getting bigger each time he saw them--usually when he visited Tom.

Harry was curious. They were so big, with babies' lives in their tummies, but they could walk and move as if they didn't have any additional burden in their midsection, though with the pregnancy came with a bonus of Snape's increased irritable moods. Sometimes the potions master would be in the middle of teaching when a few odd words slipped out--like salad, tofu, some sort of meat, with the oddest additions to them like shaved ice, chilly sauce, and triple cheeseburger with additional pickles. Tom told him that it was the hormones that was talking, making pregnant people crave things.

But it's not like Harry was curious as of to why people crave things. No, it was about the baby inside their tummies he was curious about. There was that one time in tea time, where Severus suddenly doubled over. Remus had assumed that he'd gone into labor, which wasn't it at all. He'd just got a very vicious kick to his stomach that made even him wince. But how could babies move around in their tummies? Isn't it cramped in there?

Questions flew in his mind, until Hermione's shout of "Harry!" snapped him back to Earth. He was weighing pollen, and when he looked at the jar label, he realized why Hermione had called to him. It was Belladonna pollen, something that shouldn't be exposed to air lest it flew around and poisons whoever inhaled them. They should be mixed with juices from beans or insects if one wanted to avoid getting poisoned altogether.

As the realization came, his vision became fuzzy, and he could feel his airways closing up and breathing became a little bit more difficult. His nose felt itchy, so were his hands and face. "Potter! How could you  _not_ notice that Belladonna pollen is  _very_ different from ground Acromantula legs? Detention tonight, and 30 points from Gryffindor! I'll keep on taking points until you manage to create this potion perfectly!" Snape said harshly through the ringing that was starting in Harry's ears as he vanished the Belladonna pollen and shut the lid to the jar tightly.

A few Slytherins chuckled at him, but he didn't notice. He nodded absently before his vision blurred and he fell to the ground.

* * *

"It's an allergy reaction," Severus told him.

"Allergy reaction?" Tom asked. "Harry's allergic to Belladonna?"

"Be thankful that Belladonna's usually used to create poison," Severus sneered. "He'll be fine in a day or so." Tom heaved a sigh of relief at that.

"So... How come he came into contact with that thing at all?"

"Well," Severus drawled, "he seems to have mistaken pollen for ground Acromantula legs."

"Huh," Tom frowned.

"'Huh' indeed. Now, I must be going. Just make him inhale more of these every hour or so," Severus gave him a vial filled with murky green liquid, which he recognized as an all-allergy cure. "If he doesn't wake up in an hour or so, call Madame Pomphrey."

"Alright," Tom nodded, his eyes glued to Harry's sleeping face, which was red here and there, especially around the nose, and his breathing was for the most part normal. He sniffled a little in his sleep when Severus slipped out. He stayed like that, sitting on a chair beside the infirmary bed which Harry occupied, staring at him with a vial in his hand until he woke up.

* * *

After Harry recovered from the whole Belladonna incident, he was immediately sent to Snape, where he'd get his detention. He'd half hoped that he'd get out of punishment for mistaking a potions ingredient, but alas, no such luck. Grumbling, he reluctantly made his way to Snape's office, where he'd probably be redirected to the potions classroom to remake the potion until it was perfect.

"You're late," were the first words the potions master uttered when he'd arrived.

"Sorry sir, I got lost," Harry admitted.

"Three years of potions detention and you still can't manage your way through the dungeons? I'd have thought you'd have more brains than that, Mr. Potter. It seems that I have, once again, overestimated your brain's functional capacity," he sneered, to which Harry shot a dirty glare to.

"Yeah, I would, if the corridors don't keep changing like the Minotaur's bloody Labyrinth!" Harry snapped.

"Language, Mr. Potter. Or should I take some more points from Gryffindor for continued use of profanities in a teacher's presence?"

Harry went quiet after that.

"Good. Now follow me. You  _will_ make at least a... passable potion tonight. Until then, you will continue losing five points for each failed batch until the detention is over."

"What! That's not fair!"

"5 points from Gryffindor for questioning a teacher's methods. Now get to it!"

Looking bewildered and angry, Harry huffily walked over to a workstation with a cauldron beside it, ready to be used. He went to grab some ingredients first and double-checked it to make sure that he had all of the required items before proceeding to prepare them. The repetition of the ingredients preparation eventually became boring, and he let his mind wander.

Just when he'd thought that Snape could be tolerable over the winter hols, he'd came back and proved him wrong. To be honest, if Snape wasn't Sirius' and Remus' mates, then he would've continued on antagonizing said potions master for the rest of the year. Tom had told him that Snape doesn't truly hate him, but he couldn't see how that could be true. Seeing as at any opportunity he'd antagonize him, and all because of his father, someone whom he hadn't known long enough to have an impression on.

Sure, back then his father had bullied him to the point of hatred, according to Sirius, at least. But he wasn't his father! He was his own self, a combination of James Potter and Lily Potter, and his own experiences and character development that shaped him into who he currently is.

Separating Rose petals from its' stem, Harry jumped when Snape suddenly said from behind him, "Your Acromantula legs, Potter. You forgot to get the Acromantula legs."

Looking at the dour man, Harry nodded slowly and quickly made his way to the potion ingredients' stores. How did he forget about the Acromantula legs? He'd double-checked the ingredients he needed! But since the  _weren't_ any Acromantula legs, he sighed. How did he not--

"It's up there, Potter, use the stool if you're too short to obtain it," Snape sneered from the doorway.

"What, you're checking if I couldn't differentiate between Acromantula legs and Belladonna pollen again?" Harry challenged as he went to grab a stool from the corner of the potions ingredients storage room. Snape just raised an eyebrow, not rising to the bait.

"Your cheek is not appreciated, Potter, now be done with it!" he stated coldly. Harry rolled his eyes and climbed onto the stool. He was embarrassed to find that even  _with_ the stool, he was a little bit too short to grab the ingredient he needed. Standing on his tip toes, he couldn't help it when he lost his balance and started to tilt backwards, falling from the stool and--

Snape grabbed his arm and pulled it rather harshly to the other way before he could crash.

"Mr. Potter, I do not, and will not, take kindly to you injuring yourself due to your short stature and unbalanced pos--"

_Click_

The room suddenly became dark, the only light source a strip of light coming from under the door. The closed door. The automatically locked and warded door that could not, and will not open from inside. Panic rose inside Harry as he tried to get the door to open, even going so far as to attempt wandless magic just to unlock the door.

"Potter, calm down!" Snape snarled, his irritated tone not helping to abate Harry's rising panic.

"I-I can't!" he shook his head. "Door's closed--and locked--and we're-we're trapped in here, and--"

Harry's knees gave out as a panic attack gripped him. Phantom pains from memories of his uncle shoving him into the cupboard after a long day of chores and beating--of nursing his broken bones and punctured organs that had to heal itself--no food for tonight, tomorrow, probably for a week--when was the last time he ate again?--no, he wanted,  _needed_ Tom, but he was trapped again, in that cupboard--

"Potter!"

Large, warm hands on his shoulders, a familiar voice not calling him boy--but Potter, his surname--surname? He has a surname? Why is breathing so painful? No, wait, he can't breathe! The darkness is taking away oxygen, and he can't--can't get enough into his lungs and--

"Potter, breathe Potter! Dammit, Harry!"

Harry. Harry. Harry. Who's Harry? Oh right, he's Harry. Harry Potter. And the one who's talking? Tom? No, it was--

"Snape?" Harry gasped, his glassy eyes gaining focus once more.

"Breathe, come on, breathe. In. Out. In. Out. Remember, breathe," he gently said, and as Harry returned to the present, he couldn't help the tears that escaped his eyes.

What he didn't know was that Snape, in order to get him back from his panic attack, invaded his mind to find out what was wrong. Of course, he knew about his abuse when he was still living--surviving, more like--at his relative's house. He was the one who cast the diagnosis spell, for god's sake! But seeing what happened there straight from the boy's mind was different. Far different.

He could feel how he felt, getting shoved inside, the fear and questions, how much it hurt to nurse his own injuries without any comfort--no food, warmth, care, no nothing. More than anything, this revelation had led him to believe that Harry's a strong child. Very strong, yet scarred. His childhood fears weren't the mythical boogeyman that lives under his bed because he didn't have a bed. His childhood fear was a person's touch, someone's anger.

In a way it reminded him of himself, only worse. Because despite his muggle father being all abusive and cold and harsh, he still had a warm bed, ate regularly, and received love from his mother. A friend and confidant in Lily, freedom outside of the house, a school that was a reprieve from his dark, gloomy house. Harry didn't even have that. Even at school he'd be chased by bullies, at home--no, it wasn't a home. It was just a house--he'd be locked up in his cupboard and...

He felt like a failure. He'd sworn to protect Lily's child, and yet he'd failed--and said child had the scars to remind him of it, if not physical ones then mental ones.

Feeling a surge of protectiveness come over him, he gathered the small teen--no, child--to his side. One of the babies inside his stomach kicked in Harry's direction, and the other seemed to move around until it hit his stomach again. It must've been his maternal instincts coming to life when he tightened his hold over Harry's smaller form, one of his hands coming up to stroke the boy's unruly raven locks.

"'m sorry," he mumbled once his breathing evened out.

"No need," Severus said gently, somehow knowing that if he answered in the tone he usually reserved just for Harry, he'd become all defensive and would shatter the... what, trust? The bond that had just started to mend between them. At that moment, they weren't potions master and Potter, weren't student and teacher, they were Harry and Severus, pseudo-godson-godfather.

"Why're you being nice to me?" Harry asked in a rather small voice after a while of Severus stroking his hair in silence.

"I'm always nice," he scowled, though he was joking.

"You're never nice--you're the dungeons bat, a greasy git!" Harry giggled softly, his whole body relaxing under the potions master's skillful fingers.

"You seem to be missing a few things about me, Mr. Po--"

"Harry," he said, cutting his words.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Call me Harry," he said quietly. "I-I don't like being called 'Mr. Potter' by you, it makes me think you still see me as my father."

"Ah, yes, I apologize for that... Harry."

A small, teasing grin was shot in his direction, and then Harry's expression morphed into mock-horror. "The greasy git of a dungeons bat is apologizing to me?"

Despite the teasing quality of his tone, Severus knew that he was bewildered at the fact.

"Of course I am, you brat. Now if you don't accept my apology, then I'll just go back to being a greasy git and antagonize you for all my life."

When Harry buried his face into Severus' side in some sort of hug, the potions master knew that he was forgiven.

"I don't hate you, you know. Though I admit back in first year I did hate you for many things that were untrue, I see that now, but I needed to act like I hate everyone except for the Slytherins. Who knows how many enemies I have in the Death Eater ranks? And can you imagine what would happen if I suddenly act nicely to you?"

"Ron and 'Mione would probably have a heart attack," Harry giggled. Nothing much was said after that, and when the door finally opened--by Tom and Remus--Harry was fast asleep in his not-so-hated professor's arms, and Severus was just dozing off.

* * *

"What have you got there?"

The man jumped when the woman inquired, her smile vicious and carnivorous. She was stout, and dressed in all pink. When he realized whom she was, his eyes widened and he began to plead--to not take away his items for sale. It was his life, selling stolen items, and he made a fortune out of it. But even then, he still lived in the slums--why?

Because all of his earnings would then be used to pleasure himself in a pleasure house. He was a greedy, perverted bastard, and everyone who knew him knew that. And when the official woman threatened him, he had no choice but to give her what she wanted, the only item he'd sell for a million galleons, no amount of negotiation could make him lower the price.

There was something about the necklace, that made him... want to stay with it. It was also beautiful, antique. Truly the work of art. But when the woman demanded it from him, he reluctantly relinquished the item to her, just so that he could keep selling the things he stole. The woman parted with a smug smile, saying, "Great doing business with you."

He regretted selling that necklace, but there was nothing he could do about it. The only thing he lived for was that pleasure house that sold little girls for pleasure, and he had his sights on little Sumire--an Asian little girl with the biggest doe eyes and lush raven locks that framed her little face perfectly. Her skin was supple, and she always acted scared whenever he bought her.

Oh, she was perfect.

And furthermore, despite her young appearance, she was actually 26 this year, could you imagine? He'd planned a whole weekend with the girl, again, and she'd still be there. Always, always waiting for him. His perfect little girl.

With a greedy smile, he sold an undoubtedly cursed object to some oblivious guy--some sort of staff that he stole from a Dark family's home--Zabini or something.

The necklace was a needed sacrifice, and that was alright with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! ;)
> 
> *I'm just ranting at this point* Here's a very funny story. So the other day, I had 3 classes. The first one starts at 9 AM. Second one starts at 3 PM, and the last one at 5 PM. Now, the second one was Storyboarding, which means that my team and I are supposed to make some Storyboards for our game plan for next semester. And we completely forgot that we're supposed to give our teacher our progress report. So after lunch, 'Senpai' and I went to write up a report for that (our third member went back home since there're no classes). We worked until around 2 PM, which was when we finished (phew, great job, high five!) And then, our friend, a guy from another major in which we share our classes with asked us, "Hey, have you guys finished the assignment? You know, from Program Design Methods (PDM)?" The deadline was that day at 4 PM. We panicked and eventually did the assignment in front of the classroom. Then I opened my phone to ask the people where our PDM teacher was--and that was when I saw that our Storyboarding class has been cancelled due to our teacher getting ill. It was so sad, waiting so long for a cancelled class, but when you're ill, what can you do about it? In the end I raged through the remaining 2 hours of waiting for the last class, getting myself a stomachache in the process (stress eating). Ugh. PHP is the right term for this situation (in my mother tongue)--False Hope-Giver.
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	30. Hello, Little Ones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am currently suffering from motion sickness... and I ride a bus everyday. I can't handle looking around and walking for a bit, my stomach's rolling just 'cuz I'd just looked to my right (storm's tough today :| I nearly got run over by my own trashcan, that's how strong the winds are on my floor). On another note, I've been reading a few books, make a few games (I've only made the sprites tho), and I just found out how great parfait tastes :Q___ I think I'm in love!
> 
> There's just so many things that I'd like--love to do, and yet I can't just do all of them at once, now can I? (actually, yes I can, but it makes my head go all scrambled, so I usually avoid doing that). Writing's the only thing that stables me, that's why I can keep on doing it. Now I think I've got an idea up until the Third Task (though Second Task isn't really...) but, well...
> 
> I'll tell you a line that I'm gonna put in in that chapter. In the End Notes. For now... enjoy the chapter! ;) Tom's a bit OOC here but...

Time passed in a relatively uneventful way for Harry and his friends. Even though he didn't expect this year to be more or less calm, it still surprised him. With his experience with his previous years, it was no surprise. There had been whispers about something happening next year, but he's got all Summer to figure it out.

And this Summer, he won't have to go back to the Dursley's, and that is and always will be a plus for him. He knew that by the time next year rolls around, he'd be as healthy and as strong as his peers. He doesn't take too well being a few centimeters shorter than Ginny--it was embarrassing, even though Tom seemed to like it better when he's shorter. He was still hoping that sometime that Summer, he'll get his growth spurt.

He was currently sitting in Severus' sitting room, sipping his cranberry tea--something Severus was currently craving--and just generally escaping Gryffindor's usually rowdy common room. Severus himself seemed to not mind much, as he was reading a potions journal. He wasn't surprised that that'd be his choice of reading material. The potions master himself had invited him there since a few months back, saying that they needed to mend their rather strained bond.

He was, at first, a little bit afraid of what they'd talk about, but he didn't need to worry. It seems like sharing a comfortable silence in front of the fire with just the two of them was enough for their bond to gradually recover. He'd been visiting almost every night ever since the detention incident, and even Severus had offered him to call him 'Severus', while in turn he'd call him 'Harry' when not in class.

It was great.

Harry was engrossed in reading about Basilisks in the Creatures Used For Potions book Severus had lent to him, the only book he'd shown an interest in out of all the other potions-related books Severus owned, when said man groaned quietly.

It would've been too quiet for Harry to hear, but after years spent on listening for the slightest of noises in the Dursley household for various reasons, he'd honed his listening skills to the point that such a quiet sound was easily audible to him.

That's how he also heard Jamila's mutterings back in second year.

"Severus?" Harry asked, seeing that while his expression was neutral, his skin was a bit too pale to be normal. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he groused. "Just a bit sore on my back." Harry watched him wince.

"On or in?" he asked.

"... In."

"Oh, god! I gotta call Madame Pomphrey!" Harry declared, taking some Floo powder to call for the infirmary Matron. "Madame Pomphrey?"

"Yes?" the woman called, turning from her paperwork to see Harry.

"I think something's wrong with Severus."

"Oh, dear, could you tell me what ails him?"

"Umm, he said he's a bit sore in his back..."

"Goodness gracious! I'll be right over!"

Harry stepped back and waited for a few seconds before Madame Pomphrey stepped out of the green flames. She went over to Severus with a, "Go call Remus, will you?" and a, "Let me check over you, dearie."

Harry complied and called for the other professor, which coincidentally was grading a stack of papers with Sirius and Tom helping him.

"Harry? What is it?" the werewolf asked.

"Something's wrong with Severus," he said simply, and all three men immediately abandoned their works. Stepping away once again, Harry startled when Severus groaned loudly in pain. When he turned to follow his voice, Remus had arrived. "Come on," the teen beckoned.

Knowing that the rest would follow, he walked over to a room--probably Severus' bedroom--and immediately spotted the potions master in the middle of the bed, some weird sheets placed beneath him, and he was practically naked except for the usual hospital robes. But with him on all fours with Madame Pomphrey's fingers inside his bum hole, he became both parts worried and embarrassed.

Remus muttered something under his breath, making a beeline for Severus' form in the bed, and Tom grabbed his hand gently and tugged him away from the scene.

"What's happening?" Harry asked his mate, his eyes finding Sirius' form next to the open door, face pale yet expression determined. After a while of silence, his godfather walked inside, and the door slammed closed, wards falling in place. Harry's bright green eyes searched Tom's red ones. He then noticed that he wasn't wearing his usual glamour, so that his beautiful scales glinted as firelight danced.

"Severus had gone into labour, it seems," Tom said calmly, pulling Harry to sit in Tom's lap. The teen needed the comfort his older mate offered, and he curled into his chest. His heartbeat soothed him and his frazzled mind, he felt Tom nuzzling and sniffing on Harry's hair.

"Labour?" the teen asked. "So his babies are coming?" Excitement danced in his eyes at the thought. Since Sirius was his godfather, and Severus one of his mates, it means that he'd be getting... god-brothers? "I'll have brothers!" Harry breathed out in awe.

"Or sisters," Tom nodded.

"But he looks like he's in pain," Harry frowned.

"Well, child birth is quite painful, I've heard," Tom said, his gaze pinning Harry's. He seemed to be waiting for a response, and Harry tilted his head in confusion before his eyes widened in realization.  _'Is he afraid that I wouldn't want to carry his babies since it'll be painful?'_

Harry smirked. "I'll still carry your babies, Tom, even if it's painful," Harry said, kissing Tom's lips chastely. "Because I know that the pain is worth having a family, children with you." Tom's eyes widened in surprise, before his expression melted into that of fondness.

"And having you is worth every risk I'll take," Tom promised. "To protect you," he kissed his jaw, making Harry shiver, "To cherish you," he kissed Harry's nose, "To love you with all my heart, for my whole life," he kissed Harry's extremely, deliciously kissable lips with such hunger that made the teen moan quietly, the sound going straight to his cock. "You're  _mine._ "

"Yours," Harry gasped, his hips rocking into Tom's as he sought relief. When his hands massaged Harry's bum, it was more than enough to send him over the edge, and it was  _glorious._ He fought to stay awake as he caught his breath, slightly irritated that, while Tom was also hard, he wasn't as out of breath as he. But the tiredness that came after such a glorious orgasm was creeping up to him, and he couldn't fight his sleepiness anymore when Tom's hand began to rub his back soothingly.

* * *

In the next 13 hours, both Severus and Sirius had birthed three babies, with Severus' labour being 9 hours long, and Sirius' 6 hours long. It was quite risky, because as the first child was born, a beautiful girl Severus named Emilia Aurelia Lupin-Snape, Sirius had gone into labour. The second-born child, a son named Magnus Carus Lupin-Snape, was born 2 hours after his twin sister, just as Sirius' birth canal was ready.

Their third child, their second daughter, was named Spica Lyra Lupin-Black. All three were born on the same day, March 31st. Once lunchtime rolled around, Harry'd been the first one to visit the three newly-made parents. Both Severus and Sirius were asleep due to the exhaustion labour came hand-in-hand with, and Madame Pomphrey had told them bedrest, especially for Severus due to him birthing twins, for a the very least 3 months.

Harry got to see firsthand his three new siblings. Both Emily and Magnus had black, silky hair, and he knew immediately that they would become quite the heartbreakers in the future, even if they inherited Severus' huge nose. Apparently, it was a Prince-Snape trait. Spica, on the other hand, was a very cute girl with a button nose and high cheekbones. All three of them seemed to take their looks from their respective mothers, anything Remus-like would have to be seen in the future (or so said father said).

"They're so tiny!" Harry whispered, aware of their sleeping forms.

"And perfect, and beautiful and handsome," Remus sighed happily. He looked a few years younger with a fire in his eyes that expressed how happy he was, and how protective he'd be towards all three children. He'd dreamed about this for so long... and now his dreams had come true. It was the best day of his life.

Emily opened her eyes, black with a ring of amber, as she peered at Harry's face. Magnus followed suit, and Harry was surprised when he saw another pair of black with a ring of amber eyes. Until Magnus cried, loudly, making Emily cry too, and Spica following suit without her waking up fully. Remus took Magnus in his arm, and motioned Tom, whom had entered at some point, to grab Emily. Harry gently lifted Spica, who calmed immediately as he tried to do as Remus said, 'support her head.'

Harry gasped when he saw that Spica's eyes were different, gray and amber on two different eyes.

"Ah, she's heterochromic, then," Remus murmured soothingly, feeding a sleepy Magnus a small bottle of milk. Tom was bouncing a curious Emily as she jerked her hands this way and that, her eyes slipping shut once more as Tom's rhythmic bouncing lulled her to sleep. Harry couldn't help but stare at the two different-coloured eyes little Spica had. He was captivated--she was beautiful, cute, and everything else he could think about.

That was not to say the other two weren't.

Harry smiled tenderly at all three babies as he whispered, "Hello, little ones, welcome to the world!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _"... And when he opened his eyes, they were_ glowing. _"_
> 
> ... And yeah. Look forward to it! ;)
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	31. Thoughts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 700 comments! Whoa! I admit that more than half of it are proooobably my replies to your comments, but WHOA. I am tempted to say 'Whoa, Technology' but it doesn't fit into this context so... Starrywaters pointed out that babies are usually born with blue eyes that change after a few months, and I wasn't really aware of that until s/he told me. I mean, I thought those were just a myth :/ Apparently not.
> 
> So let's overlook that tiny bit of detail and move on... Another thing, I might get a little bit busier with more people hounding on my back for stuff I gotta do, so updates may be slow... Not just this one, but my other fics will be slow. :( So I hope you enjoy this chapter!

After the birth of the triplets (says Remus even though both Sirius and Severus didn't want their children to be called 'triplets'), Harry's days went by as if a blur in his memories. He and his friends talked about exams, homework, and everything else that comes in between. There were also gossip about how Harry was a bit _too_ close to Professor Marvolo, but another gossip negated it--the fact that Sirius is his godfather, and along with it, professor Lupin who stayed in the same rooms as professor Marvolo.

It was just funny how close they were to the truth, and yet so far from it.

There was also talk about professor Snape's absence due to birth. They were whispering about how his children had horns, had a glare that could melt Hogwarts and its' foundations, how they were born with a devil's spear in their hands--in a different variety, the devil's potions knife. Only Harry and his friends knew the truth.

After both Severus and Sirius had recovered enough to hold said babies, only then did they agree to let his friends see his new god-brothers. He'd excitedly told them about them and they'd cooed at them as they moved their limbs oddly. Hermione said that it was normal, as they were trying to get used to moving them. It was still cute, though.

Until they started telling them to change their diapers, that is.

He had never seen Ron and the twins pale so fast and escape so quickly too. He giggled as Hermione huffed at their retreating backs and saw an almost-quirk of Severus' lips that he thought might be an almost-smile, while Sirius was guffawing loudly.

Harry found that he enjoyed taking care of his little brothers, and the fact that Sirius, Remus, and Severus were giving more attention to their newborn children was actually very sweet. He found himself wondering how Tom would fare if  _he_ were to take care of their children. He found the mental image that particular though brought on both parts amusing and endearing, and found that even more than before that he'd love to carry Tom's children.

He shook his head, he needed to stop thinking about such things--he's still too young to think about having children, much less having his own children. But he still found himself sighing wistfully whenever his thoughts would stray.

"Harry, focus!" Hermione chastised him, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Sorry 'Mione, what were you saying?"

"I asked you what Bicorn Horn is usually used for!" she huffed. Harry blinked at her, not really comprehending what she meant.

"Bicorn Horn... is usually used for... healing potions...?" he answered eventually.

"Correct," she smiled. "Honestly Harry, if only you paid attention to what Professor Snape teaches you, you'd be finishing his seven-foot essays within  _hours._ "

"Are you talking about Harry or are you talking about you, 'Mione?" Ron teased, to which the smart witch blushed at.

"I'm talking about both of you," she said sternly before her expression became coy. "Well,  _maybe_ not you, Ron..."

"Oi! I can study when I want to, okay!" he defended himself.

"But you don't want to, that's the problem!" she retaliated.

Harry decided to just ignore their bickering and point out that their next exam will begin in about 15 minutes, which shut Hermione instantly much to his amusement. But more than his amusement towards his friends, more than his anticipation on what next year will bring, he's more than excited to see what Summer with his godfathers and mate will be like.

One thing for sure, it's bound to not be a dull Summer.

* * *

She had to make this work, and after an extremely extensive research that could rival Hermione's level, she'd finally succeeded. Now, a place for her and him, a plan to get him away, and--

They  _will_ bond, consented or not.

She grinned to herself and hummed happily.

Her plans were perfect, now to just convince her father...

* * *

Summer went by faster than he'd ever experienced before, what with Tom taking him to a few magically magical places in the world, in order to 'court' him, as per Sirius' demand, and also with his god-siblings giving him many things to do, resulting in his happily exhausted state by the end of the day. It was great, and Harry couldn't imagine a happier Summer than this one.

That was, until the Daily Prophet somehow found out that Remus Lupin was a werewolf and stated spouting things about Dumbledore, questioning his teacher-hiring methods and a certain 'Why would the Headmaster place such a beast amongst innocent children?' that made the Headmaster fire Remus. The werewolf wasn't too concerned about that, since he'd gotten what he wanted, and more, but it also meant that Tom had to go back to the Ministry to file some documents, write some reports, and other paperwork that they issued.

It was a little bit of a shock to Harry even though he suspected it. Hermione had pointed out to him that said professor had only been sick in full moons, and that his boggart is a round, silver orb that could just be the moon. He could already see in his mind, her 'I told you so' face as she chastised him for not listening to her.

For now, though, things were happening so quickly, with Sirius' demand on Tom courting him, Tom's chastity curse, Remus Lupin revealed as a werewolf (something that he had to think about for a few days before he accepted), taking care of the triplets, his very festive birthday, and many more. But more than anything, he was looking forward to his fourth year--he could feel that something will happen.

Something good or bad, he didn't know, but he still looked forward to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot if Harry already knew whether or not Remus is a werewolf.
> 
> Other than that, my midterms are next week. Literally. I wanna rage rn since I didn't do good in the quizzes, which means that I'll be reading study materials rather than sleeping or writing :( I'm not happy about this, I can tell you that, but if I don't get at the very least B's in 2 or 3, and A's on the other stuff, I doubt that my dad would believe me about my chosen major.
> 
> I want to be anything and everything, and to me, writing stories is the way. But I don't want to just make books, I want to make games, since I think a few of my stories are better off played rather than read. So yeah. Sorry for the rant, and thank you for reading!
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	32. 4th Year-5th Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna skip 4th year entirely, because I can. Nothing much really happens, so by the end of this chapter, it should be Summer before 5th year... I hope so anyways. And also, my internet's being such a--I don't know, something bad (insert your worst cuss word here ;P). So, a few minutes earlier, I was preparing of a guild parade (yes, I'm playing mmorpg when I should be studying... or writing ;)). The parade's an event to find treasure chests in your guild place, and then hopefully obtain awesome stuff that you can use in the web mall.
> 
> Pretty nice, right?
> 
> So, a few minutes earlier, we were doing the whole count down thing. Around 1 minute before the parade--I lost my connection to the server. I tried to find out why, WHY, the heck I lost connection, to find that my internet was restarting. D: Or refreshing, or whatever. I wanted to rage and I was THIS close to the parade and then I ;_;
> 
> Okay, I guess that should sum up my frustration right now. On to the new chapter~
> 
> Warning: I may have used incorrect/odd accents so please, if you think something's not it should be, then please do tell. Thank you~

Idiotic Veelas...  _They_ don't know what's good for them!

Umbridge huffed as she replayed the International meeting they'd had a few hours prior.

* * *

_"Triwizard Tournament?" Undersecretary Delacour asked, his eyebrows furrowed as he tried to remember what the tournament was._

_"Aah, eet eez ze Tournament zat Hogwarz, Durmztrang, and Beauxbaton partizipate een, oui?" the French Minister nodded._

_"Ah, oui, zat one," Delacour nodded._

_"Vat is the use of vringing dat up now?" the Bulgarian minister asked, his eyes on Minister Fudge and herself as if trying to find some sort of ulterior motive._

_"We have decided that in order to improve our country's relations with yours, we should start from the new generations. The Board have already given me the okay for such an event to be held, and the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, have already agreed," Minister Fudge said somewhat pompously. "We only need your agreements on this."_

_"Eezn't zat Tournament quite dangerouz?" Delacour asked again._

_"And quite varvaric too," the Bulgarian Minister said with a nod. "Vut de intentions are quite appreciated."_

_"If zat's so, zen why not a ztudenz exchange programme?" the French Minister suggested._

_"Ah, we were thinking that the younger years should do that," Minister Fudge reasoned. "The older years are typically more challenge driven, no?"_

_"Hmm... Vell, I can immediately agree to de students exchange programme, vut I can't say much about de tournament."_

_"I agree. Oui, I can see ze merit on zat programme, but not much for ze tournament."_

_"Why don't you talk about it with your Board of Governors first before deciding? In the meantime, the student exchange tests will be held to those who wants to learn from other schools," Umbridge smiled._

_"Zat we shall do," the French Minister nodded._

* * *

And here she was thinking for the good of humanity! Sure the Tournament was quite the blood-thirsty event, consuming more than a thousand students before it was stopped, but it was of no consequence--a few lives here and there was necessary to build great relations with the other Ministers. Record showed that before the Tournament was stopped, relations with foreign countries constantly increased, she did her research!

Umbridge stopped herself from biting her nails, a habit she had whenever she became frustrated.

Too bad right now, it was too late, far too late for anything of that scale to be held.

While she was berating the other Ministers in her mind, she didn't notice the locket she wore pulse a little with dark magic.

But next year--next year, she knew it shall be done. The Bulgarian Board of Government were mostly blood-thirsty people, so it will most likely be okayed. The French Minister will be out-favored, so they  _will_ follow suit. Next year... next year...

She grinned.

* * *

Fourth year was dull. Harry nearly groaned when Hermione told them to study,  _again._ He knew that she was pissed since she couldn't enter the exchange student program, she'd been prickly ever since she found out that only Third Years and below could take said test. The reason for that was because fourth year was an important year, the year before OWLs. Everything that will be in the OWLs test was in Fourth Year, and Fifth Year was usually all about reviewing whatever they'd learned from First Year until Fourth Year.

So basically she was pissed off and was lashing out on both Harry and Ron, which was fine for Harry, but not so much for Ron.

Since Ginny had decided that she'd go on that exchange student event, he'd been in a foul mood. Something about being unable to watch over her, or something. Harry tried to console him, but he was just inconsolable. Even Fred and George couldn't do much about it.

Then there was the new DADA teacher. Most of the female and some of the male population had deflated when the one teaching them was an old man with a stick for a foot and a weird but cool eye for an eye, and not the handsome and perfect Thomas Marvolo who knew more than the old man knew, and who was talented in teaching. No one seemed to mind that Remus was a werewolf, and had been teaching them last year, no matter how dangerous the situation was.

Harry himself had locked himself in his room and tried to avoid the werewolf when necessary when he first knew, until he saw said man in the triplets' room, sleeping on the rug with said triplets squirming around him one afternoon. He'd then realized that, dangerous or not, Remus was, is, his honorary godfather, and has children of his own and cares for them. He decided that as long as he doesn't attack his own children, he's not dangerous.

Another thing he'd never knew before, was about creatures in the Wizarding World. He'd thought that Tom was the only creature-wizard sort-of hybrid thing, but apparently not. He didn't know before that the Malfoy's were part-Veela, until he saw a Beauxbaton student, who looked like one Draco Malfoy, with his platinum-blonde hair and somewhat charming smile.

He'd hit it off well with Colin Creevey, since they had similar interests, and it became somewhat annoying to find that he now had, not one, but three photographers on his tail, along with Colin's brother, Dennis. Then he'd also met with someone, well two people actually, who had actually hit it off with Luna Lovegood.

It seemed next to impossible before, but now he wasn't so sure.

A part-siren and a werecat. He wasn't even aware of the existence of other were's other than werewolves. When he'd asked Luna about what werecats were, she'd only said to him, "There's much about this world that we all don't know, Harry. Just don't let the giggling glanderis' influence you."

"Says Lu-nya," the werecat smiled. Harry had asked Tom about them later that night, and he only got books in return.

Tom.

Something else that made Fourth Year somewhat unbearable was the absence of Tom in school. Sure, he'd sometimes visit Severus in his quarters to see Tom sometimes, but it just wasn't enough.

Other than that, nothing much happened. By the time Summer came, he was just glad that he could spend time with Tom again. Something inside him just didn't sit well with being separated from him for much too long.

* * *

"Hey Harry," Ginny said with a smile, and Harry smiled back in response.

"Hey Gin," he said with a nod, his eyes constantly going towards the empty DADA Professor's seat at the Head Table.

"Sorry I couldn't attend your birthday party."

"No worries, I know that you'd made new friends from your time abroad, so it's understandable that you'd want to stay with them just a little bit longer," Harry nodded. She'd only come back two weeks before the new school term began, and he wondered whether or not she'd gotten herself a boyfriend in Durmstrang. His eyes went once more towards the DADA Professor's seat and hoped against hope that this year, Tom would be teaching.

He only half-listened to whatever Dumbledore was talking about, and noted that this year, there would be some sort of tournament against other schools, like Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, and there was also another warning about some pixie infestation somewhere in the Forbidden Forest, and also the DADA teacher this year being a ministry-appointed teach--

Ministry-appointed teacher?!

Harry's head instantly perked up at the mention, and he wondered who it was. Hope began to bloom as thought that maybe, just maybe, it was Tom?

But when the doors opened, his hope shattered immediately, and he felt... sad. Instead of his handsome, alluring Tom, it was this ugly pink toad of a woman who says "Hem, hem," one too many times. He hated her immediately. But...

But he was also somewhat...

He didn't know how to explain this, but he felt somewhat...  _attracted_ to her?

Ew, he nearly lost his dinner right then and there. He was  _not_ attracted to her! But what if he was? She made him feel... intoxicated, like Tom usually did. Only, when Tom did it, it was a good intoxication. But with her... Ew, nope, just, nope.  _No way_ was he in  _any way_ interested in her. He drew the line there.

She was pompous, obnoxious, just--

Everyone stood up and he was snapped out of his thoughts.

"Did you see how she interrupted the Headmaster?" Hermione asked them immediately. "I think I've never seen anyone do that before..."

"And she's our new DADA professor?" Ron scrunched his face. "I don't think I could survive that much pink within a month, much less a year!"

"Well, maybe she's good at teaching students, despite her appearance?" Harry offered, trying to think positive before he took any concrete thoughts for her ways of teaching. "I mean, why else was she chosen to be our professor, by the Ministry no less?"

"You're right," Hermione said neutrally. "She might have been rude to the Headmaster, but she might be a good teacher..."

"Yeah, but I still don't like her," Ron pouted. "But then again, the Tournament! It's never been held for a decade! I wonder if I'll be chosen?" Ron said dreamily.

"Ron! That tournament is dangerous!" Hermione chastised. "Didn't you know that hundreds of students died there? And that's not even the reason  _why_ it was banned from the first place!" she huffed.

"But still! A thousand galleons, eternal glory!"

"Tell me, who was the last champion, huh? You don't know, don't you?! All that talk about eternal glory but you don't know--honestly!"

Harry tuned them out when they started bickering, only taking in a few points of interest they said once or twice. He decided that tonight, instead of going to bed, he'd go visit Jamila. He hadn't seen her in a while, and he needed to talk to someone about his very confusing feelings, about the DADA professor--Um-something. He couldn't possibly go to Tom, he'd feel as if he was betraying him by falling for another person.

Talking to Sirius, Remus, or even Severus was also out of the question, because they'd get the information to Tom, one way or another. Both Hermione and Ron would be too disgusted to even look at him if they knew, so they were also out.

The only one he could trust with this confusing information was Jamila the Basilisk. She was also nice to him, and let him ride on her back to help him get out of the pipes before, and she also knew about his relationship with Tom, and was also an intelligent being, so...

Yes, he'll tell Jamila everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know some of you were hoping for the Tournament to be held, and I never said it'd be in Harry's Fourth Year. Wellm maybe I did? I'm not sure. But it's already 2 AM, and I have a deadline tomorrow, so I have to go. Now. :( Anyways, I hope you all have a great weekend! :)
> 
> \---- To be continued --
> 
> 2/1/2018: thank you to Daisygirl for pointing out about Hermione's OOCness XD I haven't done my research before, but I have now... I hope.


	33. Secret Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title basically taken from Orphanage Escapades, since I'm so unoriginal :P Anyways. If you're wondering where I've been, I've been doing dungeon sprees. Basically, since I found out that you could become an occultist if you find something in the dungeons, I've been searching for it. And so far, I've only got one of them. ONE. D: Ikr. Feel my pain!!!!
> 
> Next chapter starts from here, if you didn't notice... :D ;P

Harry slid down the long tunnel, landing in a soft, bouncy surface when he reached the bottom. He loved what Tom had done to the place. After the Chamber was cleaned, he'd weaved charms into the walls and floor, added a few things like a portal for Jamila so that she could go out and hunt animals, or animals walk into the portals and she eat them up. The place didn't stink anymore, rather, it now smelled... neutral.

Otherwise it'd mess up Jamila's scent-sense on her tongue.

There was a new layer of paint that gleamed under the magical light orbs that floated high, nearing the ceiling, but were bright enough to light up the rooms and hallways. And while usually it'd drain the caster of magic, apparently Hogwarts wanted the Chamber to be lit, so the castle's magic fueled the floating orbs which served as some sort of automatic lights that become dim when there's no one inside.

 _"Hatchling, what bringssss you to my domain?"_ the familiar voice sounded, and without conscious though, Harry hissed back at her.

 _"Jamila! I was looking for you,"_ Harry replied shyly. The Basilisk gave him a hissy laugh, before she coiled him up with her huge body.

_"Ahh, yessss, little hatchling. But firssssst, we mussst find a ssssuitable place to talk, sssshould we not?"_

_"Okay,"_ Harry climbed up her scales until he was near her head.

 _"Sssssalazar'ssss Chambersssss, here we come!"_ she declared, slithering at top speed, which made Harry laugh delightedly at the freeing feeling.

Salazar's Chambers was a huge and warm place, which made Harry feel cozy, while beneath him, Jamila's body was cool instead of warm. When the huge snake coiled itself, Harry climbed into the middle of said coils to snuggle into the strong, yet soft scales. It reminded him of Tom's scales somehow, but much cooler.

_"What do you want to talk about, hatchling?"_

_"Ah, right, you see, Jamila, there's this new teacher,"_ he started, pausing when he needed to find the correct words to describe how he felt about the whole thing. He also informed her of the Tournament, which he kinda get was very dangerous and deadly. He needed to ask her about his feelings and how he felt about Tom not coming back, but instead, a pink toad came.

_"I ssssee... Hatchling, you're confusssed about why ssshe attractssss you sssso?"_

_"Yes, Jamila. She reminded me of Tom, but not! Her magic felt malicious, and I don't wanna be near her, but at the same time, it felt so much like Tom's that I_ want  _to be near her! This is so confusing!"_

 _"Calm down, hatchling, and think this through,"_ she cooed at him.  _"If you're only attracted to her magic, then it ssssshould be alright. Unlesssss you're attracted to her asssss a persssson?"_

 _"I can't really tell yet, I need to have at least a lesson with her first before I can decide,"_ he explained.

_"Truly, a wissse desscicion little hatchling. Never judge sssssssomething by how it looksssss."_

_"You sound like a muggle quote,"_ he giggled.

 _"Oh really?"_ she sounded amused.

_"Yep! Never judge a book by its' cover!"_

_"Well, you should never,"_ she moved her head as if she was nodding, as much as a snake could nod.

_"Exactly! Speaking of books, I haven't read Potions and Defense books yet, and also Transfiguration, so do you mind if I stay here all night?"_

_"I won't, so long as you don't stay up too late."_

_"I won't!"_ Harry grinned. Once he was left all alone in Salazar's Chambers' bed, he wondered if having a mom felt like this. Had his mother been alive, would she help him with his relationship problems like Jamila did?

A tear rolled down his cheek as he thought about what he could've had, had he not lost them before he knew what he had.

* * *

Defense.

Was Horrible. Yes, Horrible with a capital 'H'. Horrible.

He'd wanted to give the pink toad a chance to prove herself, and she'd shot each and every one of them down. He'd only pointed out that defense should be something that people  _did,_ not just read, and she gave him a week's worth of detention for it! A week's worth! And she wasn't even  _close_ to competent, even the Ravenclaws, who generally disliked moving too much in defense, was grumbling about how boring the books were, and would rather get up and mock-duel with other people.

Not just that, but the Tournament was coming up, and a few days before the other schools were coming, he'd found himself ill with Wizard's Flu and had to be quarantined in the Hospital Wing. The only one able to see him without him getting terribly ill was Tom, and he had to take some time off of work so that he could nurse him back to health.

Not that he was complaining, but he felt bad about taking him off of work when he could've been working had he not gotten ill.

He relished the time they spent together as he was ill, and took advantage of the fact that Tom, with his creature side, could  _not_ get infected by the disease. He'd cuddled up to his warmer body temperature, felt his scales with his fingertips, and purred when the older wizard massaged his body, his long fingers threading through his messy mop he called hair, palms expertly finding knots all over his back and arms and feet due to him lying there all day long.

He could sometimes feel lips all over his body, a tongue teasing his sensitive parts, teeth nibbling on his hard member when he woke up with a morning wood. Sometimes it was just hands, fondling him to completion, and sometimes it was him, rutting, humping at the body he cuddled. But it was always,  _always_ his Tom. Always.

He was a bit saddened when he recovered from the Flu, but Tom just pulled him aside, lifting him easily and putting their foreheads together.

"Don't worry, my sweet Harry," he said softly, "if ever you need me, I'll be here immediately."

"But I want you to be here, now," Harry pouted.

"But I am," Tom chuckled. "You just want me here all year round," he teased, making the younger wizard pout even more.

"I don't like Umbitch," he confessed. "I don't like her at all."

"Was she the one who did this to you?" he asked, lifting Harry's scarred hand. Harry nodded.

"Made me write 'I must respect my betters' with this weird quill that uses blood instead of ink."

"A blood-quill then? I wonder why she, a Ministry-appointed teacher, is using an illegal torture device to punish students in detentions?"

"Who knows? Maybe she's just a tyrant?"

Tom just chuckled at that, though his eyes were dark with...  _something._ It made Harry shiver when those eyes met his with a hidden promise of retribution.

"Indeed," he just said neutrally.

* * *

When he was faring better than a few days before, Harry quickly made his way down to the Chamber of Secrets, his guts telling him that if he didn't, then something will go terribly wrong.

 _"Jamila?"_ he called.

_"Yessss, hatchling?"_

_"I... I need to talk to you, I think,"_ he fidgeted.

 _"Go on, then hatchling,"_ she said calmly, her body slightly coiling around him.

_"I... I feel like something's gonna happen tonight, and I don't like it..."_

_"What isssss it?"_

_"Tonight's the Champion's announcement, and... And I feel like, with my luck, that I'd be called--even though I can't put my name in, and I didn't."_

Jamila just looked at him in a contemplative manner, which to anyone else would've been unnerving, but to Harry was something that brought hope up inside of him.

 _"I ssssee..."_ she hissed quietly.  _"I sssssshall... ah, asssssk you for an oath--a ssssspeaker'ssss oath."_

_"A Speaker's Oath?"_

_"Yessss, hatchling, it isssss sssssimilar to Wizarding Oathssss, ssssuch asss Unbreakable Vowsss, Marriage Oathssss, and sssso on. A Ssspeaker'ssss Oath, however, sssshall have their oathsss ssseen to Lady Magick hersssself directly. And Sssshe ssssshall intervene hersssself if anything happenssss."_

_"Alright, how do I do it?"_

_"Ssssimple, jusssst ssssay the oath in parssseltongue, and Sssshe ssshall hear. You may alsssso requessssst anything if ever what you had vowed prove to be true to Her."_

_"Alright... I, Harry James Potter, vow my sincerity in the fact that I have not entered myself into the Triwizard Tournament willingly. If I am to be chosen as one of the Champions, then I request to you, My Lady, that the one who put my name into the Goblet, the one who put it in with the intent to harm me nor anyone I care about in anyway, shall instead be the one chosen for the Tournament."_

_"Sssso the ssssspeaker ssssaysss, sssso mote it be,"_ Jamila officiated, and somewhere in the Ministry Oaths & Vows records, vow written fully in Parselscript appeared, accepted by the Lady herself.

_"Thank you, Jamila, I appreciate it."_

_"Anything to keep you ssssafe, hatchling,"_ she chuckled.  _"You are my hatchling'ssss little hatchling mate, ssssso I ssssshall do anything I can to keep you sssafe."_

Harry felt pinpricks behind his eyes as he realized that he'd imagined his mother to be like her. Protective and caring, willing to die for the sake of her child. More than ever, he appreciated her even though he never even truly knew her. Jamila coo-hissed at his tears and flicked it away with her tongue.

 _"Now go, little hatchling, your peerssss awaitsss you,"_ she nudged him, and he giggled slightly.

* * *

The only one who seemingly noticed that he'd been crying was Hermione. She asked him what's wrong, and he shook his head. "Just thinking about my late mother."

She hugged him and he stiffened at the contact first before melting into her embrace. He was far more used to being hugged by Tom, but Hermione's hugs were also welcome, along with Mrs. Weasley's.

The Great Hall then darkened, and excited chatter turned into excited whispers, before it turned into a thick silence, filled with anticipation. Headmaster Dumbledore stepped forward, towards the Goblet of Fire. Harry tensed, feeling like someone was watching him. He saw the beady eyes of Umbridge, looking at him in contempt and scorn. But he felt another gaze on him--not one filled with hate...

"Durmstrang's Champion, Annabelle Blau!"

Cheers erupted, and a pretty girl with long, black hair walked up the Head Table, and through a door he'd never noticed before. Her gothic looks were surprising to Harry, and with the moving tattoos on her arms and face, somehow making her dark blue eyes enchanting. What surprised him more were the piercings. He'd never seen a wizard wear piercings, much less a witch. He wondered if that's some sort of fashion statement in Durmstrang.

"Beauxbatons' Champion, Aleron Patric!"

Polite claps and cheers sounded throughout the Great Hall as a handsome boy... man? walked up the same path as the Blau girl. His pale blonde hair long and tied at the nape of his neck, flowing as if in water, and his obsidian eyes contrasted neatly with his pale features. Contrary to the Blau girl, his skin was smooth, and his face open as he smiled charmingly. He heard Hermione sigh, as well as Ron, and wondered if he's a Veela with their sigh-making influence.

The Goblet of Fire lit up once more, and the Headmaster took the parchment it offered.

His twinkling blue eyes widened in shock, and his gaze landed on Harry. For a moment, he panicked-- _NO! He was_ not  _going to be picked! He'd even made an oath and all, and Jamila said that Lady Magick will help him! He--he wasn't supposed to be picked, and--_

"Hogwarts' Champion, Harry--"

Light shone brightly upon the parchment, and everyone gasped. Nothing of this sort had ever happened before.

"H-Harry... no... How could this be...?"

Everyone waited with a baited breath.

"Hogwarts'.... Champion... Ginerva Weasley."

No one moved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want parfaits... :Q___ I like the strawberry ones, and now I'm hungry. Much, much more hungry than before... *inserts hungry sticker.
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	34. Chapter 34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got no inspiration on what to name the title. Honest. And I've finally done my survey thingy (that I still have no idea what to do with, really) and I currently want ice cream even though my head is killing me. And my neck too, actually. Also, I feel sluggish so if the chapter's all weird to you, then it's because I'm being weird to the whole world :P
> 
> Anyways, moving on~

How could this happen? She'd done everything,  _absolutely everything,_ to ensure that her Harry will be chosen as a champion. Why was it her instead?

Her body shook as the Headmaster once again said, "Ms. Weasley--Ginerva, please come up here."

"B-but I..."

"Now. Please."

She could feel the weight of the stares from the whole Great Hall, and she lowered her head as she got up. Glancing to her Harry, she shot him a pleading look, but she only caught surprise on his features as well. She shook her head.

"I-I didn't put my name in, I swear!"

"I know, my dear," the wizened old man said, "I know, which is why I also need Harry Potter to come up here."

With a surprisingly steady voice, he replied firmly, "Yes, Headmaster."

When they entered the hidden room, the other two Champions turned to look at them, surprise filling their eyes.

"What? Eez zere somezing 'rong?" the French boy asked, his obsidian eyes looking at the two younger teens.

"Did we get chosen wrongly?" the German girl said with a thick accent.

"That's not it. I think there's some sort of... complications going on," Harry said, his eyes flickered over to her body. Feeling bold, she took his arm and shoved it against her nicely developing breasts, letting him feel how big they were compared to others her age, yet downplaying her scared little sister act. She heard him sigh, and was secretly thrilled that she was making him feel  _something._

"Stop it, Gin," he said, shrugging off her hands. He must be playing the flustered part, trying to keep it cool. She grinned internally and grabbed the back of his robes instead. Before anyone else could say anything, the Headmasters and Headmistress walked in, and blue eyes met hers immediately.

"Zere must've been some sort of mizunderstanding Dumblydoor! She'z way too young to partizipate!" the huge Headmistress said vehemently. The first time she saw her, Ginny thought that no one would like that sort of woman, with a big body, no matter how big her breasts were nor her wide hips. She wasn't curvy at all, and all fat everywhere. She was  _far_ prettier than any girls in all three schools, and most of the Beauxbatons students are Veelas, so it didn't count.

"To be honest, I'd also like an explanation from you specifically, Harry," the old Headmaster said, his blue, heavy gaze on his golden boy, on her Harry. He fidgeted for a moment before he took a deep breath and exhaling it.

"I... made a Speaker's Oath with Lady Magick... sir..."

"A Speaker's Oath?! You dumb, boy?!" the Durmstrang Headmaster... Karkaroff or something. He then continued to spout off a rant in some language that he was saying far too quickly to catch.

"Igor, please," Dumbledore said warningly, and he stopped. He then turned towards her Harry, asking non-verbally for elaboration.

"Well, I sorta had a bad feeling earlier today, and thought that I had to do something before it's done," he started.

"What did you say in your oath, Harry?"

Ginny felt a shiver run down her spine, and she knew that she was in deep trouble--especially when her Harry turned to her with a look in his eyes.

"I said that if I were to be chosen as a Champion, it was not done willingly, and if the person who placed the parchment in had intended to hurt me and my loved ones in any way, that person will be chosen instead of me," he said, and she realized what his heavy gaze truly meant. "You knew that I didn't want to be a Champion, Ginny. Why did you do it?"

"I-I..."

Nothing came up. She felt as if her whole world was falling, and the person that was meant to be hers is now out of reach. No... She'd come this far--she'd  _not_ relinquish her hold on him, not now that she was so,  _so close!_

"I can explain, Harry, please--"

"Save it girl," the German Champion said, her dark blue eyes looking at her with loathing. "You betrayed your own  _Freund,_ and of that I cannot accept."

"I agree wiz 'er," the French boy said.

She turned her pleading eyes towards her Harry, who wouldn't even want to look at her anymore, then towards the usually kind Headmaster. His gaze was on her, but it wasn't forgiving. None of them were forgiving her.

"I'm afraid that no matter the punishment, you'll have to go through the Tournament first, Ms. Weasley," the Headmaster said with finality.

"But--but I can't! I'm too young to participate!"

"I'm afraid, Ms. Weasley," another guy--is that Ludo Bagman?--said with a sad tone and grave eyes. "The agreement is binding, no one and nothing, except Lady Magick Herself, could revoke the agreement. It's bound to your magic,  _and_ your soul, and if you fail to at least  _try_ to compete in the Tournaments' Trials... well, you'll forfeit both your magic and your life."

Everything was spinning out of control, and she felt the ground disappear as she fell to the ground, pale and shaking.

"No..." she whimpered. No, this is so unfair, so totally unfair! She only wanted what was supposed to be hers--her Harry and become his everything, become Lady Potter, and become the most looked-up-to ladies in her up-and-coming time! This... This was not what she expected, not what she wanted, and she didn't accept this. She _will not_ accept this.

* * *

"Enter," Severus said when he heard a knock on his door. Both Remus and Sirius were there, along with their children, bonding. It was Friday night, and the next day being Saturday was a great thing since he'd be able to look after their precious triplets. He cared not that tonight was the night when the Headmaster announced the Champion to that idiotic Tournament where foolish horny teens enter to 'up their manliness' and quite possibly die.

But that's what the whole reason to them entering, was it not? To foolishly die, to end their foolish, idiotic lives.

But when Harry came in with sorrow-filled eyes, he knew that something was wrong. Very wrong.

"Harry?"

The green-eyed boy just shook his head and walked up to him, took little Emily in his arms and sat on his lap, rocking the sleepy little toddler.

"Pup? That you?" Sirius asked in a whisper, little Spica looking around curiously, but her eyes getting heavy-lidded. Green eyes looked up, asking for him to come up and cuddle with him too. He complied and let him lean into him with Emily on his chest. Once the toddlers were asleep, Remus came by and took said children away, sending the teen concerned glances.

"You can talk with us," Sirius prompted.

Tears rolled down his eyes and both men instinctively took the crying boy into their arms. "I-I thought she was-- I thought-- but she, she betrayed me, and--" he buried his face into their casual shirts, letting the tears run free. Remus came up behind him and nosed his neck, rubbing his back while scenting him once more.

"Let it out cub," he murmured softly, "Let it out."

* * *

He'd ended up telling them about the Oath, how the Champion announcement went, how Ginny had reacted--how everyone reacted, and how betrayed he felt when he found out someone he'd thought of as a friend at most, acquaintance at least, had betrayed him, his trust, disregarded his feelings for something he didn't know about. He ended up crying himself to sleep, and the next morning he was given a cold glass of water with a slice of lemon in it.

"Thank you," he mumbled, taking it from Remus, who has control of Severus' quarters kitchen. The werewolf just nodded and went back to cooking some hash browns. Both Emily and Spica were just walking into the dining room, sleepy gazes shot towards Harry before they clambered up onto him. A flash of bright red eyes with a messy mop of hair squirming on the ground, hands reaching out for him as she called for her daddies.

He shook his head and nibbled on the hash browns and pancakes Remus gave him, banishing thoughts of children and babies--and consequently, Tom. He remembered the night in third year when he laid on top of Tom and asked him if  _he_ could carry his babies, and his face flushed scarlet at the memory. Severus walked in with a sleepy Magnus in his arms, the toddler looking far sleepier than his other sisters.

"How are you feeling?" the Potions Master asked, placing the toddler onto a high chair before ungluing the other two from their god-brother to put onto another high-chairs. Emily protested until Harry gave her a bowl of fruits, feeding her calmly as she pouted.

"Better," he said quietly, his green eyes watching contentedly as Emily's eyes lit up with each new fruits she tasted. "Thank you."

The man just nodded before serving himself some breakfast. Sirius came into the room in his sleep pants only, showing off his toned torso. "Morning, Pup," he yawned, ruffling his hair as he did so.

"Morning, Siri."

"You alright now? Feeling better?"

"Yeah, thanks," he smiled slightly. "You know, for listening to me. All of you."

"What're godparents for?" Remus said lightly, serving more food onto Sirius' plate before sitting down himself.

"Messing around and generally creating messes as we go?"

They all laughed, thinking of a particularly fun Summer when both Harry and Sirius thought that pranking the triplets were a great idea. A paint war ensued, and by the time both Remus and Severus came back from a meeting with a few people, the house was more than coated with multi-coloured paint, some of them sparkling with glitter. The inside of the house was  _worse_ , and they got a hiding from both the werewolf and the potions master, and for Harry, a scolding from Tom.

The triplets giggled and squirmed restlessly on their highchairs, eager for some play time with 'Uncle Harry'. It was a great thing too, since it let his mind off of the Tournament, and they spent the weekend on a happy note. Showing the triplets the Chamber of Secrets was a great idea too, since Jamila absolutely adored the children and took them exploring, when the three understood  _nothing_ of what she was saying.

Come Monday, he'd have to deal with the whole thing again, but this weekend, he was determined to enjoy it as much as possible. Because he knew that things will quickly go down the drain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone had noticed, I got the name Annabelle Blau from the singer Anna Blue--she's one of my favourite artists, even though she's underrated. She's German, which was the reason why I turned the 'Blue' part into Blau (since it's a family name there too, apparently.) Anyways.
> 
> I'm glad that you all reacted from Ginny being chosen part XD I didn't realize that some of you were expecting Umbridge to be chosen though. O.o And again, my head is killing me, and if you happen to catch some mistakes in this chapter, then please do tell me.
> 
> On another note, I also know (sorta remember actually) that Freund in German means 'friend' and could also mean boyfriend and girlfriend, depending on the context. Now you can all draw up conclusions in which context Annabelle was using the term for, I'll probably put it in sometime later, or maybe never. But if I got this part wrong, then I apologize because the only reference I can get right now is from Mr. Google and Ms. Internet--so yeah.
> 
> Anyways, can you guess what the First Trial is? I'd changed the original First Trial and instead put it in the Third Trial, so you can guess all you want! I'll be waiting~ *evil grin
> 
> \---- To be continued --
> 
> 27/12/2017: What was I thinking, a fruit of bowls O.o Thanks, JordanYuki for pointing that out! :X


	35. First Task's Hint

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for not replying to your comments, as of now I'm feeling far too lazy to do so. I read them all, though! :D Thank you to Rin_Kuroi and Spotted for reassuring me about the whole Freund thing! I was having second doubts about the use of a bit of German for Annabelle for a second there... /w\ And also, here's the hint to the First Task's trial:
> 
> Enjoy this chapter!

"Come in, Harry," the Headmaster's jovial tone made said boy gulp, since he didn't add the 'my boy' he usually used. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but a dim room instead of the Headmaster's office was usually quite bright and inviting, filled with clinking trinkets everywhere, was not it.

"Headmaster Dumbledore?" he called out timidly, slightly afraid of what he might find.

"Come in..." the Headmaster's voice said once more, yet he couldn't see him anywhere. In fact, he could only see Fawkes, being the only bright thing in the otherwise dim room, and the Sorting Hat on the Headmaster's desk. "Welcome, Harry Potter..."

Only then did he realize that the one talking in the Headmaster's voice was the Sorting Hat himself.

The door closed behind him, making him jump. Fawkes then trilled at him, dissipating his initial panic, before he placed the Sorting Hat onto the black haired boy's head. "No worries, young one, you are not getting re-sorted," a voice chuckled inside his head before he could even recognize the worry forming in his head.

"Then, why are you on my head again?"

"I need to tell you, Mister Potter, that the danger has not passed yet."

Harry blinked.

"I know that this might sound confusing to you, but Jamila's protection will not be enough. Lady Fate wanted me to warn you of this hurdle--it may not seem like it, but she likes you quite a lot, you see?"

The Hat chuckled in his head, and Harry wondered why Lady Fate would need him to be warned of this at all.

"That is not all, young one," the Hat said in his head. He worried about what more he'd need to be warned off of, but the Hat's word's dissipated that worry immediately; "I just want to have a chat with you, that's all. I'm quite lonely, sitting on a stool in the Headmaster's office all year, so I'd love to get this one reprieve."

Harry giggled and agreed readily.

* * *

"Please, Hermione! I need your help! I beg of you!" Ginny pleaded towards her Harry's best friend. She hasn't given up yet--there was still time. Until the Tournament ended, she would be kept out of Azkaban, and if she would rather die than go to Azkaban. But if she dies, then she wouldn't be Lady Potter, and the title would go to someone else. She can't have that, definitely not!

"I'm sorry, Ginny," Hermione said in an exasperated voice that hid her annoyance. She knew of Ginny's actions, where she wanted to put Harry into the Tournament despite him saying that he didn't want to go. She knew because Harry had told both her and Ron, and Ron had told the twins, and now the Weasley brothers were creating a vendetta against Ginny.

But she didn't need to know that. Yet.

"Please!" she pleaded.

Hermione sighed.

"Fine, I'll point you out to the books that will help you with guessing what the First Task is, but no more, understood?"

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" the younger girl said, relieved. She knew she still had a hold over Ms. Know-It-All! After all, she's the little sister of her best friend--she'll always help whenever she needed it!

Hermione watched the girl go, bounding in the direction of the library, wondering when she'd realize that the books she mentioned were all kept in the Restricted Section.

* * *

Umbridge grinned evilly as she made her rounds late at night, passing through the second floor. She couldn't hear Moaning Myrtle's wails, and she grinned in triumph. There  _were_ times when she's not in the unused bathroom, which meant that someone might be using this to their advantage.

She'd be very cross if it was one of those foreign creatures from those no-good schools. Hogwarts weren't any better, since she knew that a few of them had a bit of those idiotic creature's blood in them, and some of them even as idiotic as said creatures! Look at Dumb Lackey Goyle and Dumb Lackey Crabbe! They  _must_ have some sort of giant inheritance--they were too dumb to be purebloods!

She scoffed at the Veela's, Dragon-Born's, Lamia's, and all those other animals that could complete a whole zoo and more. Even Draco Malfoy had a bit of creature blood in him, but since his father was someone very high up in the Ministry, she had to resort to favoritism. She had to treat him somewhat like royalty even though all she wanted to so was berate him so much that he became the dumb animal he was.

But enough of that--animals aren't worth her time. Ones that are worth her time thinking about was Harry Potter, the Golden Boy-Who-Lived, getting detentions and his blood spilling so copiously to her office floor... She didn't know why she's attracted to his blood, she'd never had that kind of attraction before, but she did. Especially when it came to Harry bloody Potter, pun intended.

She stopped in her tracks when she heard grinding sounds, like stones grinding against each other, moving, shifting, but that's impossible right? Well, unless there's someone who's doing it.

An evil grin made its way to her face and she sneaked to peek into the haunted bathroom, the words 'detention' and 'points from' at the tip of her tongue, ready to lash out to whoever was caught. To her surprise, there was no one. Confused, she went inside, and heard a hissing sound. She yelped and suddenly her locket opened, and her consciousness was no more.

* * *

Harry jumped when he heard footsteps outside of the bathroom, hastily hissing a 'close' to the entrance to the Chamber. He was under his Invisibility cloak, hiding behind the stall closest to the Chamber's entrance. When he heard nothing else, he hissed an 'open' a little bit loudly so that the snake on the sink could hear him.

What he didn't expect was a loud thud at the bathroom's entrance. He cursed himself for not thinking nor waiting longer so that he'd be very sure that there wouldn't be anyone inside the bathroom so that the secret entrance wouldn't be found by just anyone. He knew it was cowardly to just stay in the stall, trying to stay quiet, but he had to do that lest it was Umbridge who'd seen the entrance to the Chamber.

Unbeknownst to him, said person was struggling to push off the dark force which was coming out of the locket she'd swindled out of a lowly thief in Knockturn Alley, fighting a losing battle.

For a long while, there was no sound, and Harry was afraid that he'd done some damage to whoever was at the bathroom's entrance--he didn't even think about hissing a quiet 'close', fearing that he'd be found.

Then a dark, high-pitched chuckle which sounded not unlike his Tom's chuckle. He shivered as a dark, foreboding feeling blanketed him. Something had happened, and he knew that  _he_ was the one to pay the price... eventually.

There were footsteps again, but this time, it was going away from the bathroom. He stayed until there were no more sounds before he jumped forward, sliding down the Chamber's entrance, hissing a quick 'close' as he passed the sink, wanting nothing more but to tell Jamila about everything. And he meant everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Great news everyone! It's my birthday! Happy birthday to me! I'm now officially 18! /w\ Surprised? Maybe not :P Haha. Anyways, you can guess what's happened to Umbridge lol.
> 
> And to the one who said Blau isn't a family name (more like, you don't think it is? Or was it that you don't remember seeing it as a family name?) I'm not saying that it's ACTUALLY a family name, I just used google translate on what Blue is in German, which had an article of sorts (a webpage, not really an article... I think) which talked about something about the Blau family, so I just assumed that there was a Blau family once, but they're gone now. I don't want to drag this out too much, I'm far too tired to do so /_\
> 
> Anyhow, who got the hint? *winkwink
> 
> \---- To be continued --
> 
> *Announcement: Starting from December 25th until New Year's, I'll be updating everyday for this fic, all the chapters will be dedicated to the people important to me in my life, and coincidentally, all through the Tournament, so please look forward to it! I'll try to make it extra long!*


	36. The First Task

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> XD I love you all! I saw that some of you guys were worried and excited about the 1-week daily chapters thing, but no worries, I've had this pre-written before I even posted the previous chapter :P Anyways, I dedicate this chapter to my Bello Family (not my real family, mind you). If you see BelloKid911 anywhere (and I mean anywhere) you'll know that that's Annie Bello, my 'daughter' who's older than me by 1 month XD Yes. And don't get me talking about her 'grandma' XD Anyways, new chapter, enjoy~
> 
> (Psst; happy birthday to Irainbowsy XD (idk her current internet name, but she's a part of the Bello family too lol O.O))

Despite her efforts, Ginny couldn't figure out what the First Task was, other than that she'd have to get something which was guarded by something. She was frustrated, and the other champions seemed to have found out what the task was already. "Cheaters..." she muttered hatefully as she looked at the confident forms of her other two competitors. Anna's gloomy face looked imposing, and Aleron's face somehow emitted a 'dangerous beauty' kind of feel.

Ginny found herself feeling both inadequate and regretful for putting her Harry's name into the Goblet. How was she to know that Harry knew about something called a Speaker's Oath? She pouted, waiting for Ludo Bagman to come.

"Hello Champions! I am sure that by now you know what the First Task is? No? Well, I'll tell you anyway!" he said jovially. "You will need to get a pearl--that's right, a pearl! And it's being guarded by something very powerful... Come and get your numbers please! The Trial will be starting in a few!"

Ginny quietly took out a number and paled drastically when she got number 1.

"You're up first, Miss Weasley!" Ludo said happily, as if she wasn't someone too young to take on the Tournament and could more than possibly die. She knew that she could die in this Tournament, but she was very sure that if it were her Harry, he wouldn't die at all. Maybe beat up until he was at Death's door, but not die completely. He survived the Killing Curse, after all.

Gulping, she nodded and listened to his instructions--how he'll call her name, and then she'd only need to go through the tent flap to get to the Tournament area. Anticipation built inside the tent, where Aleron just sat coolly on a chair in the tent, and Anna's figure leaning on the tent's pillar, her eyes trained onto Ginny. She was chewing on a gum, and the sound of her popping it rang loudly inside the tent despite Ludo's enthusiastic voice coming through the thin tent fabric.

"... and the first champion is... Ginerva Weasley!"

Ginny jumped as her name was called, and quickly went through the tent flap. She could hear Ludo's talking about her appearance into the arena or something--but that wasn't what caught her attention. Not even the wide area that they deemed should be the arena, not the thousands of spectators--not even the fact that she could see Harry in the front row seats, beside him her brothers and the Know-It-All.

It was the fact that real pearls-- _magical_ pearls, one created once every million years and would cost thousands if not millions of galleons, one that sparkled no matter its age, with swirling patterns almost invisible to the naked eye, beautiful for only someone of Mrs. Potter would have, which of course should be her, as a part of her jewelry--and the one guarding it was... the Sorting Hat.

Was this some kind of a joke?

Why would they choose a magical, talking hat to guard such treasures?

Everyone and everything around her was silent, and she could hear someone whisper, "The clock's ticking and she's not doing anything?"

She shook her head and confidently walked up to the Sorting Hat, feeling a weird sense of nostalgia, when she had anticipated her own sorting. But this time, when she neared, the Hat's mouth slit opened up and--

_SHRIEK!!!!!!!!!_

She instinctively covered her ears and closed her eyes, her legs bending until she was crouching, as said Hat shrieked louder and louder, until the following silence was equally as deafening as its' shriek. Ginny tentatively opened her eyes, and saw--nothing happened. The Hat only shrieked, but nothing else happened. Feeling conned somehow, she sneered hatefully at the Hat, hating it for all it was, for even  _suggesting_ that she might want to go into Hufflepuff; the house of weaklings.

She stepped around the annoying Hat, and screamed herself when she saw that she was face-to-face with a grinning banshee.

She quickly cast her strongest  _Silencio,_ and even then the loudest scream everyone had ever heard slipped through her spell. It easily brought her to her knees, but not kill her entirely. She used a strong cutting hex at the vile being, but it dodged her spell swiftly, opening her mouth once more to scream a deadly scream. It went on like that--the banshee screaming through her  _Silencio,_ and dodging her hexes.

Until eventually, through pure luck, she stumbled and fell, her fingers catching the pearl as she tried to catch herself from falling horribly. Then, a few people, probably some sort of Aurors for the Tournament, came to stop the banshee from screaming once more, killing probably everyone within hearing range. She didn't care for her scores--of course, they should be very high since she survived a  _banshee_ \--just that she'd passed the First Trial.

* * *

Harry sat among teachers, mainly because Sirius and Remus were there. Of course, their glamour was perfect and no one suspected that it's them. Severus wasn't in any way interested in watching the Tournament altogether, so he volunteered to stay at their chambers to keep an eye on their triplets. Both Ron and Hermione were sat next to him, so he was sandwiched between his godfathers and best friends.

"A  _banshee_?!" Ron gaped, his face pale as he watched his little sister struggle against the shrieking monster. There were spells cast around the Audience Stands so that no one got hurt. Harry watched his gaze somewhat grim as Ginny dodged here and there, shielding and trying to attack, but failing.

When she survived her task, Harry was both relieved and disappointed--he'd expected more injuries on her person.

He blinked and shook his head. Where did  _that_ thought come from...?

Anna went next, the German Seventh Year fought against a phantom Basilisk that  _looked_ and even  _sounded_ like Jamila. He heard her playful hisses as she dodged expertly around the huge snake and managed to get the pearl--all without taking out her wand even once. It was an amazing feat, and everyone clapped and cheered for her.

Aleron had to face off a Necromancer's phantom, one that could summon real dead bodies and ghosts to attack. He'd suffered a bit of broken bones, but he survived. He got the pearl within 10 minutes and 39 seconds--3 seconds later than Anna. So in the end, Anna ranked first, Aleron second, and Ginny third.

All the while he was watching the First Task, he could feel someone's heavy gaze boring into the back of his head. It was... disconcerting in the very least, but with Ron and Hermione's excited chatter, he easily ignored it. And with both Sirius and Remus' help, he forgot about it completely.

* * *

There was a certain.... attraction... that he felt towards the by with shaggy black hair at the front seats. Harry James Potter, someone who had defeated his older self once when he was a baby. He wondered why he was so... fascinated by the sparkle of his eyes when he and his friends talked about the performances of the three Champions. He was a little bit too far to hear what they were talking about, but whatever they said made the boy's eyes sparkle with delight.

"Ehem," he said, acting as the bitch he was possessing. Of course, by possessing, he meant 'taking away her body completely by making her soul dormant and feeding his soul her pathetic magical powers and controlling her body and life completely.'

"I do not think that such chatter will be tolerated in my class Ms. Granger and Mr.'s Potter and Weasley," he sneered. "You will have to write the conclusion of chapters 1 until 5 if you do that..." And then he left with the threat, grinning at the hateful whispers he could hear coming from the three teens.

Dolores Umbridge, the Minister's Undersecretary, who's also the whore he's cheating his wife on. Apparently, the Minister had loved his wife but had not been satisfied with her and decided a little bit of thrill would be... a great idea. Dolores had confronted his wife in secret and now his wife could do nothing but suffer in the knowledge of it; the nights where he'd be 'too busy in his office' were the nights he would be screwing with her.

He sneered in disgust at the memory, but he needed them in order to act like the whore precisely.

His eyes once more was drawn to the shaggy-haired boy with slightly tan skin and a lithe body, his green, glowing eyes spoke of hidden power, yet untapped within him. He licked his lips and desire grew in his heart.

He wanted the boy--and he will get the boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Christmas! Tbh I don't celebrate the holiday, but everyone else does so... why not? :) No judging!
> 
> Rant time: I hate it when people blame me for things that aren't exactly my fault to begin with. If you don't know, I'm usually the person people would first blame when things go wrong. I'd argue, sure, but I'd always concede in the end because I'd feel too tired to argue any more. But don't get me wrong, I'd still somewhat resent that person for blaming me. Who wouldn't? Do you understand that kind of situation?
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	37. Yule Invitations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this time, I dedicate this chapter to my real family :) They drain me so much sometimes (read: all the time) but I still love them. I'll miss them, but I wouldn't be the person to hang around for too long lest I get dragged into their busy-busy agenda. But without Mom's insistence that I read when I was a child (first or second year elementary school--anyone know the 7 stories book? I forgot what it's title is, but there are seven stories in the book with extremely difficult vocabularies to the little me who's English isn't my mother tongue...), I wouldn't even be this addicted to reading.
> 
> To my Dad who always gives us all laughs and smiles, and equally, frowns and tears (he's the typical Asian parent lol), who tells many funny stories which probably had influenced my writing style... To my little sister who I just love to tease and to my big sister who always blames me and my little sister for everything (well, we do it to each other so I can't really complain lol)...
> 
> To my aunt for introducing me to the Harry Potter series (she bought those thick books and left it at our house :X) and to my grandparents for introducing me to cooking and languages... So that I make cute and yummy cookies (some of those fails were delish) and drilling into me proper speech and word usage...
> 
> For my other aunt that taught me how we could, psychologically 'see' which books are great and which are utterly rubbish... and my uncles who, like my dad, also influenced my writing style (serious with a bit of comedy, I think)... And to my cousins for inspiring me even when they're not there....
> 
> I love you all :) And I know they won't ready this since they all don't know about my internet account :| I don't really care, I just wanted to dedicate this chapter to them. Now the list is too long :P
> 
> Enjoy this chapter~

_'I'll write a song to you_  
One you'll never ever see nor read.  
I'll put you to sleep  
Your destiny's yours to lead.

 _I may be pretty_  
All sparkly and glittery,  
But remember one thing about me;  
Danger lurks in those that are pretty.

 _Be they sparkly or glittery_  
Or colourful or glowing  
They'll make you feel jittery  
Blood and poison freely flowing

_You won't know until it's too late;  
I'll give you a chance, so choose your fate.'_

* * *

Yule Ball was coming, and dancing classes were Hell on earth for Harry. He hated that he couldn't dance well--even Neville, who practically had two left feet--could dance far more gracefully than he. It frustrated him to no end, and made him grumpy. He'd snap at anyone who offered to teach him, to anyone who'd ask him out to the dance, and he'd even sometimes startle the triplets with his dark glare, making them cry and hit at him.

He exhaled a soft yet long sigh. He needed to get his acts together! He couldn't be all angsty and angry just because he couldn't dance!

A hand sharply tugged at his arm, and he yelped as he was trapped into a wall by two arms bracing his sides.

"Harry James Potter, will you be my dance partner?" Fierce dark blue eyes gazed into his startled green ones unwaveringly. Harry gaped at the older girl before he glared at her.

"No."

"Why?" she asked firmly.

"I..." Harry hesitated. "Well, I'll embarrass you and you won't want that!" he whispered.

"Well, we'll see how that goes, hm?" she purred, her German accent thick. It was a 180 degrees turn from her usually quiet and reclusive personality, Harry thought she was another person completely. Anna laughed when Harry looked at her suspiciously. "Ah, I apologize..."

Harry nodded cautiously. Anna noticed and gave him a tight smile.

"The _Freund_ I intended to bring as my date already had a date himself, and I noticed that you haven't gotten one yet, so... _Tut mir leid._ "

Harry shifted uncomfortably at the suddenly awkward atmosphere between them.

"Well," Anna coughed to clear her throat a little, "how about we try one dance now, and if you're alright with it, you go to the Ball with me?"

"Alright," Harry mumbled and accepted her hand after a slight hesitation. He was surprised when she took lead instead of him, and that despite their height difference, it was quite comfortable to dance with her. He soon relaxed into the dance, and they glided through the dance floor, and Harry beamed when their dance ended.

"Why did you take the lead?" the younger teen asked curiously.

"Hmm, my  _Freund_ is a sub, so he likes it more when I take the lead rather than him leading me through the dance floor," she explained.

"Your friend is a... sub? What's that?"

"Ah, you don't get these kinds of education over here, don't you?" she smiled, sitting down and gesturing Harry to do the same. He complied. "In the creature world, there are two, sometimes three, kinds of types. There's the Dominant, Submissive, and in pack terms, Alpha, Omega, and Beta. Now, Alphas are usually Dominants. They are more like a leader, though, especially in packs, while Dominants are people who has... Dominant traits.

"They aren't necessarily Alphas, though all Alphas are Dominants. Now Subs, or Submissive are people who submit to those who are more dominant, like the Dominants. They are also referred to Omegas, and are always carriers no matter their gender."

Harry listened with rapt attention to her explanations.

"What about the Betas? Are they... in between Submissive and Dominants?"

"Yes they are," she nodded with a proud smile, which made Harry's mood lift a little bit more. "Betas dominate those who are more submissive to them, but are submissive to those more dominant to them. They usually act as protectors and, well, comfort dolls."

Harry giggled at the term.

"You're naturally a submissive, Harry, so I knew you'd need someone to lead you instead of you leading," she winked.

"Alright, I get it now," he smiled. "Thank you for sharing."

"No problem. Now,  _Auf Wiedersehn!_ "

* * *

Ginny stared at the pearl in her hand. What was that? She swore she could hear a poem coming from the pearl, but she couldn't figure out what it meant. It's warning her against something, but she didn't know what. She placed the pearl into the small box once more and placed said box onto her ear. The poem sounded once more, and she wrote it down, but for the life of her she couldn't get what it meant.

It was driving her crazy, and she knew it. Maybe she was thinking too deeply about it? Maybe it was as straightforward as it sounds? Who knows...

She flopped onto her bed and closed her tired eyes. She needed some rest. Figuring out how to activate the pearl's hint was difficult enough that she didn't care about the Yule Ball, which was about a month away. She'd need a beautiful dress to go with Harry's--gold, red and black, made of silk and satin, frills around her chest area and waist area to emphasize it's sizes--maybe some more along the skirt?

She didn't need to ask her Harry, he'd been rejecting other girls' invitations, she'd heard. It was a sure sign that he'd go with her, she was sure of it! He'd forgiven her for putting his name into the Goblet! She sighed dreamily as she imagined how rich she'll look, standing in her imaginary dress, next to her Harry, both wearing big smiles of happiness...

The door opened and she heard her year mates talking excitedly in hushed tones. But seeing the she was still and lying in her bed, they assumed that she was sleep and began talking in earnest.

"Did you hear?"

"Yes, yes! That German girl... Uhh...."

"Annabelle Blau, right?"

"Right!"

"Yes, her!"

"Have you heard? Harry Potter accepted her dance invitation!"

"Really???"

They squealed excitedly.

"I'm jealous!"

"I know right!"

"I wonder why he didn't accept our invitations before?"

"Don't you guys know he's bad at dancing?"

"He's bad at it?"

They sounded surprised at the statement.

"Yeah, he's actually worse than Ronald Weasley!"

"Like,  _way_ worse!"

"I guess he didn't want to embarrass himself?"

They giggled.

"That's so adorable!"

"I know right!"

They all agreed.

"He's older than us, but it feels like he's actually younger!"

"True, like a little brother, right?"

"Oh, you should've seen how he grumbled about not being able to dance properly!"

"Oh, I saw that!"

"Yeah! Me too!"

"So cute...."

They all sighed, but Ginny didn't notice. She'd tuned them out when she heard that they were talking about other things now. Her Harry... with that unattractive German girl?! What a whore! Stealing her Harry even though  _she's_ the only one eligible enough for his attentions!

Her face darkened, but she was too exhausted to act upon it. She succumbed to sleep as she thought, 'I will  _kill_ her for taking him away from me!'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Rin_Kuroi for helping me with the German here! ^o^ Can anyone guess what the Second Task is? *grins
> 
> Another rant here: I watched a video in YouTube about some people 'exploding' (as in suddenly bursting out in anger and shouting and such) since I happen to have had a few of those episodes over the years, and I could relate to them... :3 It somehow makes me feel better to know that I'm not the only one to do that occasionally :P (I mean, if I blew up in front of my parents, I'll probably let slip a few curse words that would have me go hungry for a month :X ) I'm not the talking type, at least not to people I know, so I'd rather say it to anonymous people in the internet (something dangerous to do, don't try to do this at home, I'm a bad author :P) Do you have those episodes too? Would you rather blow up in private, or in a crowd, or among people you know? (Side note, I'll always feel like I wanna cry when I get angry idk why)
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	38. Yule Ball

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm... falling... asleep... zzz... Jk XD I dedicate this chapter to the ones whom had made my heart flutter! Adam Lambert (yes, because he's so-- XD), to my crushes (I will not reveal them, no, no! :X) and to those who made those characters in animes and mangas, and even video games! Thank you for making me feel like a girl, because I know otherwise, I'd not be able to at least imagine how I'll convey my romantic feelings even in my dreams! :) And also to those who came to me for love advice, knowing that I don't have any experience at all in that field! You honor me :)
> 
> Enjoy this chapter too~

Ginny walked down the stairs to the Great Hall, her shimmery dress that accentuated her every curve making all the guys drool and all the girls sniff at her. She couldn't find a date in time, and decided to ask Ron for help. He'd agreed to be her dance partner, mostly because Hermione already had a dance partner of her own. She hid a sneer of disgust at her brother's state of dress--it was clearly their dad's hand-me-down as it was tattered and had holes in a few places, as well as a few patches that made the dress robe's colour seem off.

In contrast, she had one of the most beautiful gowns in school, her hair perfectly styled just so that it framed her face and made her usually warm eyes look smoldering. Her make-up was impeccable, peach lipstick and lots of dark brown eyeshadows to give her a natural, innocent look despite her dress. She parted her lips just slightly as she waited for the ball to start, her high-heeled boots making her nearly as tall as her brother.

She glanced to the side to find the know-it-all paired up with Aleric, his charms making her melt against his side as he spoke softly to her. She had on a gold and brown dress that flared at her hips, its' vintage style made her look like a proper, yet uptight, lady. Her hair, usually frizzled, had been braided and then looped around her head like a crown, and her make up was minimal, just enough with powder and a slight blush to her face.

Aleric himself looked decidedly delicious. His dress robes were form-fitting, hugging him at all the right places. His hair combed just so that he looked like a sly angel, his smile charming everyone in the hallway. He also wore a similarly vintage-styled clothes and they truly looked like a couple together. Aleric had explained to her that he already had a mate, but she wasn't allowed to go watch the Tournament, hence him not having a date. Hermione had accepted his cry for help and went as a friend.

She didn't know how that happened, but it just did. As long as they didn't sabotage her and her Harry, though, they were alright in her books.

Next, she eyed the utterly unattractive girl Annabelle. She had on a pretty gothic dress, with lots of details on her gown, frills and buttons that somehow made for easy moving and yet form-fitting at the same time. There were nets on her shoulders and legs, her foot wear were dragon hide boots with no pumps at all, as she was naturally tall. The navy blue and black of her dress made her eyes look glowing, and her face tattoos were accentuated in a sensual way.

She was leaning against the wall, waiting for her date to come--her date which was  _her_ Harry!

She was debating over whether or not to walk over to her and give her a piece of her mind, when Harry came down.

His usually untamable hair framed his face, and he had markings on his face and neck that made him look ethereal--almost like an angel. He wore a dark green clothing that just brought out his eye colour, and the way it fit his form like a glove had nearly all the girls and some boys in the vicinity to drool at him. His smile was one of shyness and yet... he looked like he was looking forward to the dance.

He'd heard Sirius talking to Severus about Tom possibly coming to the ball tonight, but she didn't know that. She just assumed that this Anna girl had given him a potion to make him feel  _attracted_ to her in some way. She seethed silently as her Harry walked up to the older girl with a smile, his tense shoulders relaxing as a hand wandered over to his lower back.

_She's not allowed to gaze, let alone touch what's hers!_

There was a loud cough, and after a flurry of movements, Professor McGonagall and the three Champions and their dates were left in the hallway.

"Alright, now, when you hear the song start, and the door start to open, you must get into position and then glide inside once it's opened completely. Starting from Ms. Blau, Mr. Patric, and then followed by Ms. Weasley. Any questions? No? Then I wish you a pleasant night."

She then left with a graceful move and they waited, following her instructions. They didn't have to wait long, though--as soon as she went in, the song started, and the doors opened. The Yule Ball had just begun.

* * *

 Both Harry and Anna glided onto the Great Hall, their formal wear trailing them elegantly as Anna subtly led Harry through the dance. Harry felt as if he was flying, following Anna into a dance of dips and twirls that made his heart jump and his smile wide. When the dance ended, he had sore feet, and yet the smile stayed on.

" _Danke_ Harry Potter, for the dance we had tonight," she said courteously with a sly smirk. Harry smile back and nodded at her.

"Denk-ke to you too, Annabelle, for the wonderful time we had," he said, trying to pronounce the word, but butchering it up a little bit.

"It's  _Danke_ Harry, don't get caught by the 'nk' part of the word," she winked before turning away from him with an elegant turn. Harry blushed at his botch-up, but a smile replaced it when Hermione hugged him from his side. She then rambled on about how great a dancer Aleron was compared to Ron who needed a lifetime of dancing lessons before he could stop stepping on her toes. Ron of course looked affronted when he heard that, but grinned when they laughed together.

Harry caught a flash of red, and he felt decidedly uncomfortable being in a crowd like this. He then excused himself and went straight into the boy's bathroom, going to the sink to wash his face from sweat. The cool water against his skin felt  _divine,_ and he sighed happily at the feeling.

_"Hatchling..."_

He heard Jamila hiss from the pipes. He grinned and decided to go and visit her while the party was still going. Might as well, before the girls find him and demand a dance from him. He wasn't in the mood to dance with other girls, those of which he didn't know personally. He'd rather ditch the Ball altogether and go visit someone he knew.

Opening the entranceway to the Chamber, he slid down quickly and closed it before anyone could see him, and braced himself for the landing. At least his butt wouldn't hurt too much thanks to the cushioning charms Tom placed the last time he was here. The slide gave way to air, and he closed his eyes, expecting the bouncy impact--

\--which never came.

Instead, he found himself in the arms of a person, his scent familiar to him and made him bury his face into his shoulder. The person chuckled at his action but placed him on his feet.

"Tom!"

"Good evening, Harry," Tom smiled softly at him. "You look very well-dressed, have you had a fun night?"

"Yes!" he chirped happily. He told him of his night with Annabelle, describing to him what he found out and what she told him about the whole Submissive/Dominant thing. Tom listened to him, although he already knew about everything Harry was telling him. He'd found out about it in his travels, and had further looked into it and saw a whole new world due to it.

As he walked with Harry in his arm, his inner creature purred in pleasure, seeing how much his mate had grown. From the scrawny, almost unhealthy-looking child, Harry had grown into a dashing teen with a lithe figure, jaws sharp yet soft, cheekbones high and eyes big and bright. Really, his only fault was his short stature, but Tom didn't mind. Rather, it suited his tastes rather nicely.

"Tom!" Harry called out again. He'd noticed when Tom's attention had gone elsewhere, and blushed when his intense red eyes were checking him out. He felt self-conscious about his own appearance and now craved for a Weasley jumper--at least they didn't feel tight everywhere, making him feel somewhat suffocated.

"You look absolutely ravishing," was his only warning before he was swept into a mind-blowing kiss, Tom's tongue exploring every dip and curve of his mouth, every nook and cranny, and everywhere the hot, slick appendage touched, it burned. Tom pulled away, satisfied to have practically liquefied his younger mate completely. Dazed green eyes gazed into intense red ones, pupils blown wide with lust and want, his scales more prominent now that he was slightly blushing from it.

"Would you care to have this dance with me?" Tom whispered huskily into Harry's ear, to which the dazed wizard nodded with a dopey smile. With a flick of his wand, music started playing, and Tom led him expertly. Harry didn't even  _need_ to think, he just felt. Their eyes were locked together the whole time, and Harry felt like he was flying. No, more than flying, he felt freer than flying--and he couldn't describe how  _that_ feels.

He just  _felt._

They danced the whole night away, with Jamila their only audience, and it was the best dance they'd ever danced. Ever. He didn't ever want this to end--never.

* * *

Ginny huffed as she couldn't find her Harry anywhere. It was like he disappeared into thin air! Once it struck midnight, the Ball ended, and everyone was ushered to their dorms, and even there she couldn't find her Harry. She pouted when she saw him the next day at breakfast time, his face positively glowing. She didn't know where he went and with whom, but she knew that there was competition now.

Whoever it was, she will  _kill_ them in the worst possible way, and then claim Harry as her own. She was sure that she'd succeed, though it'd have to be before the Tournament ended. She wouldn't be able to do anything in Azkaban, for endangering another person's life--specifically Harry Potter himself. She didn't care, though. In her mind, she was righteous about her beliefs, and it will  _stay_ that way.

But first, she had to think about the Second Task's hint--what could it possibly mean...?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have an idea inspiration O.o And it annoys me to no end, so I wrote it down on paper. The inspiration came from Blackbriar's Until Eternity--listen to her songs if you like singers with weirdly fluctuating voices that somehow sounds good with the song! Like Marina And The Diamonds and Melanie Martinez~
> 
> This time's rant: People usually immediately judge me when they found out in real life what I do in the Internet world. I mean, I honestly can't express myself well enough, even though others call me an expressive person. If I were to express myself the way I want to, they'd judge me. But at least in writing, I can still express myself a little bit clearly, and people wouldn't judge me for it--because, you know, words have powers and such. Like my dad, today, he judged me because I preferred wearing men's clothing over women's clothing. Is it so wrong to love nice, comfy clothes which is for the other gender? Anyways, do you also have people like that in your life? Those who judge you in real life, but when you turn to the internet, you find yourself freer than before?
> 
> Sorry not sorry for the rants :P
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	39. The Second Task (Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you guess what the Second Task is? XD I dedicate this chapter to all of you, my dear readers! I'll explain later in the rant section at the end note :) Because, yes, it's rant-worthy, and if I were to say it all in the beginning note, it'll spoil the chapter entirely. SO! Please do enjoy~

Harry sat between Ron and Hermione once again. They were in the dungeons, near the Slytherin Common Rooms, inside an unused Divinations classroom. It was a dark place, and there were three beds surrounding an orb that projected nothing at the moment. "I wonder what the Second Task will be?" Hermione asked, intrigued by the orb and curious about the beds.

"I don't know, actually, none of the Champions would tell me the hint," Harry shrugged, liking the thrill of anticipation as it climbed and climbed until it was nearly unbearable. The door then opened, yet still, nothing could be seen. That was, until three glowing sleep gown float in, walking around the beds for a moment before they settled.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen," a dark, silky voice said, and everyone shuddered as the deep, relaxing voice continued. "Let us cut to the chase, the Second Task shall be the Dreams Trial, where our Champions will travel deep into the dreamland, their mind's landscape providing their own trials.  _As there is no greater enemy than thyself,_ the Dream Trials will make you face yourself, and you'll have to prove yourself to get out of it. Now we shall wait as our Champions' magic get acquainted with the pearls from the First Task, as it's important to do so to be connected to the Orb of Dreams."

Everyone watched in silence, enthralled by the sight of magic, glowing and swirling around the three bodies, all connected to the orb in the middle. They all climbed into bed at once and laid there, their moves synchronized as if they weren't in control of it. Not even a single twitch was not mirrored by the other. This was clearly some sort of ritual, unknown to many as Hermione had never heard, nor read about it before.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, let us be witness to their fight against themselves.  _Thy own consciousness shall always be at war with thy own subconscious counterpart._ No peace shall be found if you don't reflect on yourself, and you will only be living in a dream,  _as_ a dream if one is more dominant than the other. Now close your eyes and look up--be the spectators, be the witness,  _for their fight shall always be remembered, and be a reminder to thyself as of to what one could have been._ "

The commentator/narrator person stopped talking, and once everyone looked up, and saw the beginnings of a landscape, each different and unique in their own way--and they all realized why it's called the Orb of Dreams. It could project dreams like a muggle movie, only captured live inside a dream.

Onyx eyes gazed upwards as he cancelled the medium  _Sonorus_ charm he'd used to Comment on... Narrate on the proceedings of the Dream Trial. He felt Remus' hand in his, warm and firm, and he smiled, knowing that no one could see it through the darkness. He'd come to love these quiet yet intimate moments with his wolf. Well, admittedly, it was Sirius who'd shown him how to appreciate it, and his love for the two bloomed even more.

Really, how could one feel so much love at once, and not explode?

He shook his head while his gaze never wavered from the projection coming out of the Orb of Dreams. It's part of the ritual for the Dream Trials--at the very least 10 people for each participant must keep their eyes on their dream. The professors had agreed on which Champion's dream they will always watch, and he was counting on that lest everything went awry and the Champions become stuck in their dreamscape.

He wondered if any of the Champions would recognize the lifeline bracelet?

* * *

Aleron opened his eyes to find that he was in a forest. Dark green and lush, brimming with life even though it seemed to be nighttime. Glowing fairies and Will-O'-Wisps dancing all around him. He could hear giggles from said fairies, and whispers from the elusive Will-O'-Wisps, but he ignored it, all in favour of his beautiful mate. She stood in a silky tunic, her hair falling to her bottom like waterfall.

Her smile hypnotising and her mischievous eyes sparkled with delight.

 _"Aleron! What are you doing here?"_ her melodious voice washed over him waves, and he fell in love with her even more.

 _"Mon amour, haven't I told you that I'd been chosen as a Champion?"_ he chuckled. His mate tilted her head in thought before she nodded with a smile.

_"Yes, you did say that, didn't you? Now come along, I want to show you something!"_

The French teen smiled indulgently at her and nodded.

_"Lead the way, Mon amour."_

He never noticed the gleaming bracelet on his wrist.

* * *

Anna found herself falling--clouds parting as she passed, but it seemed to be endless. Her heart pounded fiercely and she couldn't quite suppress the panic rising in her. But then she closed her eyes--she must be in a dream. A dream, the Second Task.... A Dream Trial....? She focused on giving herself wings, and eventually she stopped falling. She opened her eyes to the sight of wings--yet not her own.

She turned to her left and saw whose wings it was.

"Xerxes!" she exclaimed, her usually gloomy look brightened immensely at the sight of her friend. "What are you doing here?"

Xerxes just smiled at her, and with a flap of his wings, all the clouds parted and left them in a sunny spot, where the light made everything look as if they're sparkling diamonds. She realized just then that her friend was also shining, and her smile fell as she remembered a verse in the hint;

 _I may be pretty_  
All sparkly and glittery,  
But remember one thing about me;  
Danger lurks in those that are pretty.

 _Be they sparkly or glittery_  
Or colourful or glowing  
They'll make you feel jittery  
Blood and poison freely flowing

Xerxes, her friend, was the Trial. She must  _not_ give in to his charming smile, even if she wanted so bad to do just that. With amazing control of willpower, she forced her dragon wings out of her back, blood spurting everywhere at the rip of her skin.

"What are you!" she demanded, and yet the Xerxes-impostor just smiled creepily. His head then became twisted, and the smile became more crooked. He suddenly lunged at her, and she, with a strong flap of her wings, took off at the speed of sound, a bracelet on her wrist glinting in the sunlight. He followed.

* * *

When Ginny awoke, it was to the sight of a beautiful bedroom, her in a beautiful sleeping gown, and a shining bracelet on her hand. She admired the bracelet for a while, until the door opened.

"Ginny, breakfast's ready," a charming Harry Potter came in, his whole body clad in crisp white clothes, made of some expensive cloth. She then realized herself that she was then dressed into a very beautiful gown, complete with jewelry that complimented both her dress and her body. She smiled at the butler-like Harry, her Harry and the way he should act around her.

"Come, Harry, let's eat, shall we?" she smiled happily, taking ahold of Harry's arm and practically dragging him to the dining room. In there, she watched with happiness in her heart as Harry pulled out the chair for her, and served her a luxurious breakfast that not even in her wildest dreams could conjure. It must be one of the Orb of Dreams power to do so.

Her Harry sat beside her, on the floor, where he should be, as she ate the hearty meal with gusto. She didn't even spare a glance towards her Harry, who was rapidly getting thinner as she kept on eating. When she was done, she saw that Harry was so thin that he could practically fall over and die. Which will never happen, of course, she thought with a smug smile.

Harry Potter was hers, and she will never let him go, even in death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, I'm not French. So I apologize if I used the wrong word there in mi amor (should it be amorer?) I hope you like this one Trial :3
> 
> Rant space: I love you all so much for ever reading this! All of you who'd commented, given Kudos, or even just read! (I mean, a bit while ago I saw the hits go up a few numbers and it just makes me feel so- X)) I feel like life is just a dream--that one day, I'll wake up and find myself in some place entirely unfamiliar to me. I understand now why humans need support from each other because you support me. Without your support, I might not even feel alive at all. Like in this chapter, the Dream Task is actually the representation of what I feel in real life. So many things that I could have, that would all lead to my demise, and my purpose is the only thing that I could follow. So thank you all, for supporting me--and eventually letting me make the longest story in my life. 39 chapters people!
> 
> Do you have someone like that? That supports you no matter what? It could be your parents, siblings, friends, GF/BF, or even an imaginary friend. Maybe your pet cat, or dog, or a hamster could be the one who supports you... :)
> 
> \---- To be continued --
> 
> 29/12/2017: Mi amor os actually Spanish XD oh well... Thanks for telling me!


	40. The Second Task (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to all you writers out there! The way everyone writes is different and they all are always interesting (though I suppose, some do need to polish up :9) I know that overcoming problems (read: RL, writer's block :|) is a bit difficult, so I appreciate everyone who has gone through that, and burst through it, coming out better than before. Stories are something I love immensely, and reading them is my addiction. And I'm not talking about fanfiction writers only, mind you, I'm also talking about those who'd produced books, fiction, non-fiction, and all that stuff. Everyone can make a story, telling them through books, even if it's non-fiction. But, not many are brave enough to share them--many people has worries about others not liking their stories enough, or getting flaming comments, hurtful ones that made you not want to write anymore, and it's alright if you receive them.
> 
> It just means that there's something they're not satisfied with, and you can't possibly cater to them so much that you'd change your story entirely--some things just aren't worth changing over, you know? You can't make everyone happy, after all. So don't take offense, and instead, rebel against them and prove to them, that many love your story, or maybe even the concept of it, and they will go away eventually :3 Or just ignore them, though that's a difficult move to make... :(
> 
> Which is why I appreciate those who kept on writing and pushing through no matter what! If it's your passion, then do it.
> 
> Enjoy this chapter~

Everyone watched, enthralled at what would happen to the Champions. Watching three things at once could disorient you, and it was very difficult to keep their eyes glued to just one projection, though Harry was actively trying to not watch Ginny's dream. Seeing himself being treated as a slave-butler mix of a person reminded him of his life at the Dursley's, and he didn't like the way Ginny was acting.

She was like Aunt Petunia in that regard, that he nearly forgot that it was Ginny there and not the Aunt that would call him names and degrade him just for living.

He focused on Aleron's dream and then Anna's. He wondered if the people in their dreams were important people. Aleron's girl was very pretty and Anna's guy is ruggedly handsome... Before he turned all twisted.

"Whoa, Blau's dream is intense..." Ron commented, his eyes wide as he watched.

"Tell me about it..." Hermione responded, and Harry could only nod. Anna's dream was  _very_ intense. He hoped she survived, before turning his attention to Ginny's dream. He was revolted at what she was doing to him--the Dream Harry.

It was too much, and he turned away from her dream, but not before noticing how with every word and action Ginny did, she became uglier and uglier.

* * *

Aleron blinked again as he tried to see his mate again. For some reason, it looked like as if she was... Phasing out..? His hackles rose, and he took a defensive position.

"Who are you?" he asked quietly.

"Aleron, don't you recognize me?" She asked sweetly.

"You are not my love," he declared dangerously, his usually calm blue eyes becoming feral and his pupils slit.

"But... I am...!" she insisted. "I'm yours! Your love, why... Why won't you believe me..?"

Her wide eyes was nearly his undoing, but he knew that if this wasn't the girl he fell in love with, he'd never recover from his humiliation.

Then he realized--the pearl warned him about this...  _Danger lurks in those that are pretty..._ and his mate is  _very_ pretty.

"What have I gotten myself into...?" he muttered to himself. "You are not my mate, and you never will be her!"

"Let's just see about that!" she screeched, and he knew now that  _that_ wasn't her. She'd never talk back to her Dominant, ever. She charged at him with blazing eyes and a cruel smile, and he expertly dodged to the side.

Forest noises, such as grasshopper songs and wind rustling the leaves were completely silenced. He kept dodging, jumping, turning away, but she just kept coming.

His hand snatched a vine and he lassoed it to her foot, pulling it to make her fall. And fall she did.

She screeched at him, furious that she couldn't get him with the vine on her leg--he'd cast unbreakable charms onto it and had tied it to a tree when he'd secured her.

"You won't get her!!!" she screeched, this time louder than before. "She's not yours but you are mine!"

"I am hers," he said sternly. "I am hers, and she is mine."

With that declaration, Aleron watched as his mate-impostor screeched loud enough to break his eardrums. But he stood there, still watching until she turned to dust.

Then, his bracelet pulsed, and he was enveloped in golden lights, his whole being illuminated by it.

The last thing he knew was his mate smiling at him, congratulating him of his success, before he was sucked away to Hogwarts.

* * *

Anna slashed at the air to no avail--her dream version of Xerxes was stronger than the real him, which made him nearly indestructible. They flew at break-neck speed, her wings flapping vigorously to keep her faster than her childhood friend.

"You can't run away from me, Belle!" he called in a mocking tone. "You're weak, can't even handle a small heartbreak from your own crush!"

"Stop it!" she cried, her hands moving furiously to keep on shooting curses, both light and dark in nature, to disarm him.

"He wasn't even into you, and you gave your everything for him!" he hissed, his hand slashing one of her arms away. She screamed in pain, and gasped at the sight of blood on her somehow still attached arm.

Memories of just wanting stopstopstop _stop_ assaulted her, leaving her breathless and tears threatened to fall.

"I was supposed to be your friend, and now  _look at me!_ " he screamed at her. "Are you happy now, to lose your only friend to a guy like that?"

"Stop it, please," she sobbed, her hands coming up to her ears to block out his voice--block out her own pain.

"Are yoy happy now, that he  _raped_ you, and then you push away the only person to actually understand you?!"

She sobbed almost hysterically now, and Xerxes was right in front of her now.

"Did you think that I'd not care as much, had it not happened at all?" he whispered into her ear, his cold, cold hands stroking her hair gently, which made her sob harder.

"I'm s-sorry," she pleaded, hiccuping as she did so.

"I just wanted to help you, Belle," he kissed her forehead. "You should've believed in me..."

She shook her head.

"And now you've lost me forever, what did you expect?"

She wailed.

She'd never cried so much in her life, not even when she had horrific nightmares about her past--about her, Xerxes, and...and  _him._ He'd never cared for her, and she knew that now. But when she found out, she'd already lost the only person she saw as a brother, someone who loved her more than anyone else would.

Her bracelet cracked as she continued to sob. "I-I'm so, sorry Xerxes," she clawed at his chest, not knowing when she'd come into his arms. "I-I didn't know what to do, how to handle my feelings and... And I ended up pushing you away...I'm sorry..."

His eyes seemed to soften at her admission, and his previously cold hands became warmer, a temperature that she associated with him rather often.

"Hey now," he whispered, kissing her wrist. "I didn't try to kill you in your dream, just so you fail at your Trial..."

She continued to sob, hiding her face into his chest.

"I'd always wanted to comfort you, hold you like this until you've cried it all out..."

More of her bracelet breaks, and Xerxes tenderly took her other wrist to his mouth, kissing the bracelet tenderly. More of it breaks.

She started to apologize again, but was cut off by his next words; "I love you, with all my heart, Belle. I may be just a childhood friend in your eyes, or a brother at most, but I've always loved you far more than that."

He then kissed away her tears, and she nodded in acceptance at his admission.

"I will come back to you, Belle, but until then, you have to wake up..."

"I'll miss you," she whispered brokenly.

"You will," he agreed. She smiled at hin crookedly, and saw that instead of a horrific thing that looked vaguely like Xerxes, she found his warm brown eyes, staring back at her.

Golden light enveloped her, and with a last, fleeting kiss on her lips, she was gone.

She couldn't forget how warm his lips were--just like the first time they kissed each other out of curiosity. She closed her eyes and let the golden light take her away.

* * *

Ginny grinned evilly as she widened her legs, pushing her Harry further into her nethers. She moaned delightedly when his tongue delved deep into her, making her squirt more lubrication onto his already wet face.

Harry by now was way skinnier than he was at the beginning, he was now practically a skeleton.

"Finger me," she ordered,loving the feel of his thin, brittle fingers inside her, alongside his tongue. But then, he suddenly stopped, and started to shake.

She snapped at him to go back to moving, but he just stopped moving before he fell to the side, lying lifelessly with empty eyes.

"No!" her eyes widened, her heart filling with rage. "Harry, Harry, wake up," she said in a sickly tone, acting concerned. "Harry, darling, please wake up..."

He laid still, lifeless in her arms, his condition further deteriorating. She kept trying until she couldn't take it anymore--

"Wake the fuck up!" she roared, and threw him to the furthest wall, makin it crack, and yet Harry's body was still intact. Enraged, she beat his lifeless body up, not noticing her own bracelet cracking with each hit.

But even then, his body wasn't getting destroyed, but was still deteriorating. She didn't notice when her whole body changed, her looks not quite human anymore.

Her teeth were fangs, her nails, claws so sharp it could've--should've ripped his deteriorating body apart. Her eyes became beady and her pupils slit, her hair gaining a mind of it's own and started attacking him too. Her back hunched and her skin became saggy and blue.

Once she was done, she stormed away from his body. She sat on her vanity desk, and looked into the mirror with a horrified expression.

That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

She screamed.

* * *

Anna opened her eyes and the first thing she heard was a scream. She wanted so badly to get up and see who's screaming, and why, but she couldn't take her eyes off of the creature, staring back at her with an obscenely wide mouth and horrified eyes.

When she became more lucid, she realized that the creature itself was screaming.

"Annabelle Blau, the second one to finish the Second Task. Congratulations, Ms. Blau," the commentator's soothing, deep and rumbling voice said.

But his voice was covered by the mumbling audience who sounded worried about the screaming creature--and she realized that it was Ginerva. She became such a horrible creature that even she was horrified.

"And it seems, that Ms. Weasley has failed her Task..."

As he said this, her bracelet cracked even more, and--

She opened her eyes.

She sat up, her hands feeling her own face, body, hair, and she gave out a relieved smile. Anna watched her coldly--she'd read about Dream Trials, where the ones participating shouldn't know that they were in a dream until after the Task was finished.

It was also a coming-of-age ritual back in the Old days. She's 15, and yet she'd failed her Task... It was saddening. She will never be a true woman because of it--it was the Dream Task's rule.

Until you complete it, you will never mature. Not that you can only take it once, of course, others did it all the time until they've completed it. But many usually didn't want to try again, which was the reason the ritual fell out of favor.

"As punishment for not completing the Dream Trial, Ms. Weasley shall get a penalty for the last Task. She will not be given a single hint on what it will be."

The commentator sounded unrepentant, maybe even had a small amused tone to his voice, and Anna decided that she liked him, whoever he was. Her eyes met Aleron's, and they exchanged a silent glance before nodding.

They smiled at each other, knowing that they were congratulating each other.

Harry, in an effort to not look at Ginny, was watching the two's interactions and smiled. They were going to be the best of friends, he knows it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a while, since I'm now on vacation with my parents and because I'm writing this from my phone, but I hope you enjoy this nonetheless. Anyways.
> 
> Rant space: I'm very clumsy and I hate crowds. But apparently my family's a narcissistic bunch, and I'm never excluded from photo sessions. The thing is, I'm alright with one or two pictures, but not a dozen or so at a time. I mean, seriously. Okay. Maybe you want to commemorate and document our trip and memories in a photo, but I'm not really that kind of person. So when people catch me off-guard with a "Scar look here! We're taking a picture~" I'd not smile. And because of that my family often complains. And when we take a picture amd block out a whole crowd, I'd feel very guilty :( oh, and as for the clumsy part, I'd often walk into people and not notice it, or I'd always trip when I walk (idk why D:)
> 
> And also, thank you for all your support in your comments! It made my day when I checked it at night :)
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	41. Inner Monsters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for taking SO long to finish this chapter! D: I thought I could make it two days ago, but the trip was tiring and I just got back yesterday--and my parents had plans on New Year's time and I had to go too so I couldn't celebrate it with you all (my phone died right before the countdown ;_;) Anyways, I dedicate this chapter to those who'd been oppressed in their lives. I've had a few friends like this--one in middle school and almost all my year mates in High School... And I was one back in elementary school (being called a crazy person just because I'm a loner :X And also the pressure of your parents pushing you to make friends and when you do, they disapprove... *sigh)
> 
> Being oppressed doesn't mean you're weak, or weird, or (I quote Vernon here :X) a freak, it just shows how close-minded this world truly is, and you being different is something they just can't accept (for now anyway). And also, those who's still surviving through those kinds of environments, I salute you. You haven't given up yet, and that instead makes you strong. Though I'm sure those who had taken away their own lives, or died trying to survive are warriors all on their own. Let's take this moment to think about them and salute to them in all our hearts...
> 
> Now that's depressing D: Let's enjoy this next chapter, shall we?

Tom opened his eyes and groaned. He hated nights like this. Nights were his delectable Harry would star his dreams and do sinfully wicked things with just a smile--those warm, warm lips on his own, bright green eyes glazed over in pleasure, his hands wandering all over his body,  _knowing_ where all his sensitive spots are, the coy smile when he got his way, his warmth surrounding his--

_Stop it!_

He couldn't catch his breath,  _he was just so, so hard,_ and he knew he wouldn't last until Harry's 17th birthday, when he'll be a legal adult in the eyes of the Wizarding World, and would be able to consent to his wants and needs, thus nullifying the Chastity Curse Sirius had cast upon him. Well, the Blue-Balls Curse to him, he thought grumpily. It was why he decided to take on a Ministry-related overseas job, which ended just in time for Harry's Yule Ball.

Oh, when he'd seen him, he was far, far too irresistible. He couldn't help rubbing his small back, his large hands roaming not getting noticed by Harry. It was a hellish delight. The sight of him with warm cheeks and wide, bright eyes was just too much, and he would've came right then and there--had it not been for that blasted curse!

He sighed as he took a cold, cold shower to take off the edge form his erection, luckily it wasn't too long before it was soft once again... well, as soft as it could go. He found that after getting the curse, each and every day he had a wet dream, it'd stay just a little bit harder, and now half-hard was its' softest state. He'd gotten used to it by now, and wished that the wet dreams would stop coming, but alas, it was not meant to be.

His creature side has been acting up and it wanted-- _needed--_ Harry. Which was why he was having those dreams in the first place.

An owl swooped in, just as he dressed in his casual clothing, getting ready to face the day working at home.

Yes, a home, and it was not Riddle Manor. He'd built a house on a hill, near the sea, in preparation for Harry's dowry. It was small, with a living room, huge kitchen--knowing of Harry's love for cooking--five bedrooms, not including the master bedroom of course, six bathrooms, one huge playroom for when their children arrive, two dining rooms, one for formal occasions, while the other for casual dining, and a storage room.

Not to mention the garden outside that he had intended for Harry's perusal.

He also had one house-elf, one he gave a room for in a separate house altogether, which was fine since he only came to clean the house and make him food when he's there.

So yeah, it was a small house.

Tom picked up the letter the owl had in its' talons and gave it a treat before sending it off. The letter had a ministry seal, and after opening it, he groaned, knowing that he just  _had_ to go. Fate is such a tease...

* * *

_To Thomas Eoin Marvolo,_

_You have been invited to the Third Task, which will be held on the 24th of June. You are required to attend as a spectator, as you'd proven yourself a diligent, devoted worker or the Ministry of Magic. Attached to this is a Portkey that will transport you to Hogwarts gate at 7 AM on the day of the Trial._

_Thank you for your cooperation._

_Sincerely,_

_Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge_

* * *

Ginny didn't understand why everyone was looking at her that way. It was odd, and even her friends who had hung out with her before would avoid her like a plague. It didn't matter, though, she'll be with her Harry in no time at all!

She'd taken to stalking her Harry everywhere, while also trying to find out what the Third Task was. No such luck, though. Even her Harry was looking at her with fear in his eyes--it was as if... as if she was a worse monster than Voldemort! She scowled at the thought--she was no monster! She was the future Lady Potter! She would definitely never become a monster-ever!

But with everyone looking at her like that... She was convinced that everyone was convinced that she was a monster. And she knew exactly who was spreading such rumors about her...

Her Harry's secret lover.

Whoever it was, she will not forgive them, and they will  _never_ be forgiven...

* * *

That night, Harry felt a little bit unsettled. He'd laid down on his bed earlier than usual, but the feeling that he was being watched was making it very difficult for him to sleep. Now, he listened to his roommates' snores as he tried in vain to rest his body and mind. He sighed and turned to get into a more comfortable position, but gave up when he felt as if he was just too tired to move.

He closed his eyes and thought about what both Anna and Aleron had told him, seeing as they'd decided that he should know about the Third Task.

* * *

_"It's a Battle Arena, with one of the monsters holding the Cup every five minutes," Anna told him with a serious expression._

_"Excuse me?" Harry asked, confused._

_"We'd just been informed of our next Task," Aleron said. "It's some sort of Battle Arena, where we will have to fight together with a partner, one who is not a Champion, but we trust implicitly."_

_"Monsters will come in every time we defeated one, and when an hour has passed."_

_"When we enter the battlefield, there'll be at least 10 monsters in the Arena, and one of them will be holding the Cup for five minutes. The next five minutes, it'll be held by another monster, and so on."_

_"Whoever has the Cup first will be the winner, and if you or your partner is knocked out cold, you will immediately fail the Task, thus not able to become the winner," Anna finished. "We're worried, after seeing Ms. Weasley's Dream Trial... She may just do anything in her power to make you participate with her."_

_"I understand," Harry nodded. "I'll be vigilant."_

_"Stay safe," Aleron nodded at him, his gesture mirrored by Anna. They then parted ways, towards their respective classes._

* * *

Harry's eyes flew open--he didn't realize that he was sleeping until his harsh breaths reached his ears. He looked around, fumbling to see what awakened him, but he couldn't see anything. Where were his glasses? His wand! He needed his wand, under his pillow--but his arms wouldn't move. Now that he noticed, his whole body felt heavy, as if something was on top of him.

He tried to scream, wake up Dean, or... or Seamus, as they were lighter sleepers than Ron and Neville, but no sound could come out of his throat. He'd been Silenced.

His mouth was then pried open, and something went in. He tried to cough it up, but a hand massaged his throat, and he reflexively swallowed.

The last thing he saw before his mind became dull, fogged, was the silhouette of someone on top of him. Their whole body was a mass of shadows, except for the gleam of teeth.

The monster from Ginny's Dream Task had appeared, and they were grinning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woot woot??? D: Let's all panic together, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! It's not as long as I wanted it to be though...
> 
> For those who are still confused about the Dream Trial: Both Anna and Aleron passed the Task. Ginny didn't. Which, in the Tournament-context, she didn't get any points. In some sort of coming-of-age ritual context, she will always have a mindset of a child. Her body will mature, but her mind never will. I got inspired by people who are a child in an adult's body, and an adult in a child's body sort of thing. Me, personally, I feel like a child in an adult (sort of...) body. I realized this when I was admiring dresses and looked into a mirror.
> 
> I felt as if I don't belong there. Well, I was wearing my dad's jacket (supposed to be, but it was too small for him in the arms :P) with a blue shirt underneath, beige pants and black school shoes so... Among glittering, elaborate dresses, I felt rather weird there. And this is coming from someone who likes to design fashion clothing when I'm in the mood lol. Real life does that to everyone.
> 
> A note to everyone: No one is born as you. We can't all be the same. I was somewhat mentally challenged when I was in elementary school, but being an observer, I noticed that people try to be as similar to another person as they could just to fit in. It's both inspiring and sad. Try to observe people when you're alone--you'll find many amusing things that we all do without us all noticing. And if you think back, that also includes yourself (I did that to myself XD)
> 
> \---- To be continued --
> 
> 2/1/2018: Sorry for those who were offended by the "Not everyone can be guys, and not everyone can be girls, we're born this way" line D: I didn't know how to phrase it right and I had offended some of you (at least). Thank you to Mirage for informing me of this! *apology cookies for all those who are offended D:


	42. Third Task

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy birthday to our world! We're one year closer to our deaths! Hurray! I dedicate this chapter to all my enemies (or those who think I'm their enemy and vice versa), let this approach towards death be the turning of our leaves and start anew! Rethink about our past year and try to rectify it in this year (and bla bla bla, the usual do it this year spiel :P)
> 
> I'd also like to take this New Year stuff as something symbolic, where we all start anew and forgive each other. I apologize if I'd offended people, my parents (by writing this story in the first place), my friends (for being the annoying person I am), my enemies (I know that I'd done something wrong--why else would you be my enemy and not rival?), those I'd dubbed as my enemies (yes, you did something wrong, think about what you've done to me -_-), and everyone else I feel I'd wronger or had wronged me. I plead forgiveness and ask of it from you in return.
> 
> Now that's inspiring :P Enjoy this chapter!

Tom walked into Hogwarts with some sense of nostalgia--he remembered when he'd first came. He was awed with it--the structure, its' history, the reason it was built in the first place... He was awed and was determined to learn as much as he could.

But then he met Dumbledore.

When he'd first seen him, it was with a frown. He didn't know it back then, but he'd had the same gaze Gellert Grindleward had before he became obsessed with the Deathly Hallows. Ambitious. Willing to do  _anything_ to achieve it. And getting Sorted into Slytherin only made matters worse.

He'd come to loathe the old man from a young age, first because he assumed things that were wrong about him, and second because despite knowing how he was treated in the Orphanage, he'd not give in to his pleas to let him stay all year long in Hogwarts. It had made him bitter in the first place, and only now that he was sane, and had a talk with Dumbledore, did he understand that he'd had been barmy even then.

That didn't mean that he'd forgiven him, though.

Not when he'd done the exact same thing to his Harry.

Though now that he'd understood, he viewed the Headmaster as someone who's in desperate need of retirement. He'd put up a petition to let him get a retirement after he realized his own feelings towards his, and now it only needed to be accepted by at least half of Hogwarts teachers. He shook his head, his red, red eyes glamoured to look more brown, and his scales hidden from view.

He looked like Professor Marvolo once more.

When the students started noticing, he was already nearing the Ministry-workers-only seats, and even there, he could hear the excited whispers of many students.

"Professor Marvolo," Draco Malfoy greeted coolly, right beside him his father, who was sneering at the glamoured man.

"Draco Malfoy," he inclined his head in acknowledgement. "And you must be Lucius Malfoy," he smiled, knowing how his attitude grated on the other man's nerves. They'd met many times at work, but he'd taken to pretending to not notice the rather important person, as he  _was_ quite busy with work. It was... amusing to see him try to reign in his annoyance at being unknown.

"Thomas Eoin Marvolo, I assume?" he said coolly, his steely mask far colder than that of his son's. "Draco told me many things about you."

"Yes, he was one of my more talented students," he said smoothly, which wasn't a lie. He  _was_ one of his more talented students, right next to his Harry, of course. Nevertheless, Draco seemed to beam at his praise, and Lucius grudgingly acknowledged the man. If he could make him smile like that, then he was a worthy person. Though he didn't understand  _why_ he'd petition for an investigation on one Dolores Umbridge.

She was... well, she wasn't the most pleasant company, just barely tolerable actually, but he didn't see her as someone who should be under arrest for things that would warrant an investigation. Draco had told him about her classes--boring, but always putting Potter in his place, and making Gryffindors lose House Points. It was the only thing that made her classes enjoyable.

He decided to watch Marvolo a little bit closer, ignoring the excited whispers of many students below them.

Those calm, brown eyes looked bored as Ludo Bagman announced the start of the Third Task, and explained what it was all about.

"Aleron Patric, with his partner, Ariel Dominique!" The first pair's names were announced, and he noticed Marvolo's eyes brighten a little bit in anticipation and worry. Why would he be worried, though...?

"Annabelle Blau, with her partner, Christopher Agnar, please come in!" Ludo exclaimed, announcing the second pair. Yes, that was definitely worry shining through his eyes, and only then did Lucius realize that he wasn't even watching the Third Task at all. He was searching for someone, subtly. How Slytherin...

"Ginerva Weasley, with her partner... H-Harry Potter...?" his sentence ended with a question, and sure enough, out came the red-headed Weaslette and the Potter boy. Immediately, Marvolo's body turned tense, and he realized that there was rage in his eyes, before he put on a cool mask, far more formidable than Lucius'.

It scared, and awed him at the same time.

* * *

"Harry?!" Anna asked in surprise, her blue eyes wide with confusion. Christopher looked at her in concern, and asked her something in another language that Harry didn't recognize. She replied in a quick, clipped tone. It was evident that something was wrong--that his presence right then and there was wrong--but how could it? Master Ginny had ordered him to participate with her, so how could that be wrong?

Ginny looked at the blank look of confusion in her Harry's eyes and inwardly grinned. Her plan was working! She might've overdosed him just a little bit with the loyalty potion by pouring in all of the vial's contents, but that didn't matter. Now that he was there, she would be safe. He's strong, after all.

Harry looked around the arena with dull eyes--there were monsters, and all kinds of them. Trolls, phantom basilisks, banshees, giants, dwarves--was that a Boogeyman?--and many more that he didn't know the name of. He remembered what Anna said--that only one of them will be holding the Cup every five minutes, and with the eyes of a trained Seeker, he found the glint of gold.

It was on one of the sparkly-dressed... something. He didn't know what it was, but the sparkles of its' outfit camouflaged the Cup perfectly.

"Now that the Champions have arrived, let us begin the Third Task; the Battle Gala!"

And the monsters were released.

"Protect me, Harry," Master Ginny ordered, and what else should he do but obey?

* * *

"How come he's down there?" Hermione asked in surprise and worry--she'd seen how dangerous Ginny had become, and now Harry's down there? Something was definitely up with that. But what was it? Did he accept being her duelling partner out of some twisted sense of justice, not wanting to see the little sister of his best friend die in something as dangerous as the Triwizard Tournament?

No, no, it couldn't be so. He'd felt far too betrayed by her putting in his name into the Goblet to help her with anything--he'd said so himself! And he trusted him enough to know that he wasn't lying. So... why...?

"Is there some sort of loyalty potion that could do this? Or an Obedience Potion?" she mumbled to herself, and Ron looked at her.

"Of course there are, 'Mione," he said, apparently hearing her mumbled thoughts.

She snapped her head towards him, her bushy hair practically slapping him and anyone close enough to unfortunately get hair-slapped. "That must be it!" she said with wide eyes. "He must've been drugged, and became her partner without his own consent!"

Ron gaped at her, before he turned his attention to where his best mate stood, ready to protect his little sister. "But what can we do about it now...?" he asked her.

"I..." she started, but then thought about it before realizing that nothing could be done at this point. "There's nothing we could do but watch..." she said in despair.

They both prayed to whatever deities that could be listening to them to save their friend from whatever harm may befall him.

* * *

They'd been ducking and shielding themselves for nearly one hour by now, and Ginny had not even lifted her wand to protect herself. Harry had been on both offensive and defensive, and Tom could see that he was depleting his magic core far faster than usual. It grated at his nerves to be unable to help him when he needed it. He closed his eyes and focused so that he could send him some of his magic when he gasped.

He felt his own magic signature somewhere... near. And it wasn't him. He stood, his head whipping here and there to search for the source of his magic signature--maybe it was his horcrux?--and turned his attention once again towards the arena.

The Audience gasped, and he gaped at the sight before him;

Harry Potter, sailing through the air, blood pouring form his forehead, with drops of them tainting the Arena's floor, and hitting a Mountain Troll, who was dumbly holding out something golden, shiny--

The Cup!

He collided harshly onto it and the Cup disappeared from view, along with his Harry.

Magic built around him and he, with the rage of his Creature side, roared in fury.

Nothing else matters, but his mate.

And he'd disappeared right in front of his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oopsie! That was a bit anti-climatic, but I plan on brushing it up a little... though I don't know how. Input please!
> 
> Rant space: it's been 19 hours since New Years here, and the fireworks are STILL going strong. How am I supposed to sleep tonight??? D:
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	43. Chambers And Awakenings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, no I'm not so cruel as to leave you all hanging, no... That wasn't a cliffie :D The real cliffie's in this chapter, since I start classes tomorrow, how cruel right? ;_; Some of you will be so happy I made this chapter, so happy you'll kill me, so hold your horses first, shall we?
> 
> *evil grins

Ginny hid her smile when her Harry flew across the Arena to hit the Cup, held in the hands of some dumb troll or something. Her plans were coming into place--the disappearance of one Harry Potter will cause confusion, and people will be panicking about his disappearance, but she wouldn't be. In the midst of panic, she slipped away, unnoticed.

She finally had him in her hands, and she will never let him go.

* * *

In the dark, Harry appeared.

Where the Cup had turned into a Portkey, he'd been transported to another place entirely. He opened his eyes, which he'd closed in pain upon landing. He got up on all fours, a hand reaching back to rub it to alleviate his pain a little bit.

Where was he?

His eyes tried to adjust to the dim lighting, but before he could, hands grabbed his arms and tied them painfully against his back. He could feel his shoulders dislocating because of it, and he hissed in pain. His heart pounded against his chest, and everything felt weird, wrong.

"Welcome, Mr. Potter," a shrill voice said, and he shuddered when her breath brushed against his ear. It was both revolting and somewhat arousing, and it sparked weird and disgusted feelings deep inside him. "Congratulations on making Hogwarts win."

The beady eyes of one Dolores Umbridge bored into his own, and her smile was... dangerous. He couldn't explain it any better, just that her smile was very, very dangerous.

"Professor Umbridge...?" Harry questioned, utterly baffled as of to why he was here with her... In the Chamber of Secrets. He glanced around to search for Jamila, but she was no where to be found.

"Ah, no," she chuckled. "I'm only borrowing her body, little one..."

Her big, fat fingers reached in between her breasts, and Harry looked away to keep himself from vomiting. He'd never want to see his teacher doing something like that, as he wasn't even interested in anyone other than Tom. Wait... She said she was only borrowing her body....?

The question made him look back at the woman, holding a... necklace? A locket? In her hand, and with a hissed 'Open'--did she just speak in Parseltongue?!

Harry's eyes widened as the realization settled in.

He'd only ever had eyes for his Tom, and him getting even slightly attracted to Umbridge was just... weird. And now she's speaking in Parseltongue?

"... Tom...?" he asked tentatively.

"Ah, how clever," she... he chuckled, but not of mirth. Behind the amused tone, was a barely concealed hate towards her... his word. "That was my name, you see," he informed him. "But now, I am Lord Voldemort!"

Harry's eyes widened. This wasn't the Tom he knew! This was the Dark Lord who wanted him  _dead!_ But... There's only one Tom, right? How could there be another? But his magic seemed so... so familiar, he couldn't deny that he's Tom at least magically...

"And you," he said, his face getting too close for comfort, "Are quite compatible to be my sacrifice."

Harry's eyes widened. "S-sacrifice?!"

"Ah, yes, a sacrifice... I need your blood to help me resurrect myself, you see," he chuckled. "Which is why--"

A piercing scream tore through the empty chambers, loud and clear that if you listened closely, you could hear it from the dungeons in Hogwarts. Tom dragged a knife he'd imbedded into Harry's arm, down to make a large, gaping wound. Blood immediately escaped, and Voldemort-Umbridge immediately caught each and every drop in a large cauldron.

"Don't worry, Potter, you will not be the only sacrifice to this. I like you too much, and it's such a shame to lose someone with magic compatible to mine, you see," Voldemort chuckled. "So I think I'll keep you--maybe as a pet or something."

Harry was quickly losing blood, and he felt lightheaded. His depleted core did nothing to help, and with his eyes rolling to the back of his head, he lost consciousness.

Voldemort just chuckled, and then magically sealed the wound. He had more than enough blood to do the ritual. He chanted in a mix of Latin, Greek, and even a bit of Irish and Old English, as he walked around the cauldron.

The fire started, then baby's breath flowers started growing on the ground, and Voldemort mused about how innocent his first sacrifice was. Harry Potter was very innocent, it seems. Cypress trees grew around the ritual area in a bonsai-like state, and Voldemort continued on his chanting. Heliotropes grew around the unconscious form of Harry, and as they fully bloomed, the blood in the cauldron bubbled.

Voldemort shed his clothes, leaving him naked in a disgusting woman's body, who smelled like equally disgusting perfume. He climbed into said bubbling cauldron, and magic built around him. The boiling blood rose and rose, until it nearly spilled over the rim of the cauldron, but it didn't. Instead, it continued rising as he continued on chanting. Blood covered his body, and when he opened his eyes next, it wasn't beady anymore, but blood-red.

He grinned--his whole body was turning into his old one, taller, more muscular. He opened his mouth, and both chanting and a woman's scream came out, as blood travelled inside. The very walls of the Chambers shook, his magic mounting and mounting, until it reached its peak.

With a shockwave of magical prowess, the ritual area was wiped out, leaving on he, and an unconscious Harry Potter behind. He grinned, and went over to the boy.

"I thank you," he said before gathering him into his arms and then disappearing.

* * *

Tom fell to his knees, his whole body felt weak. "No..." he said quietly to himself. He was too late.

He'd felt an influx of his own magic, and his soul felt as if it wanted to go to another place--to Slytherin's Chambers--and he went there. As he landed and went around the corner, he found Jamila, unconscious as he'd found her before waking her up the first time when he was still in his Hogwarts years. He went ahead, to where he could feel his magic--but not from his own body--had peaked.

When he got there, he saw his Harry, unconscious, and in the arms of another man, before they disappeared.

His inner creature roared in fury, as his mate was take right in front of his eyes, and all his glamours failed.

* * *

No, no, no, this can't be happening!

Ginny's eyes darkened when she couldn't find her Harry anywhere in the Shrieking Shack, the place she'd designed the Cup to transport him to. It must've been tampered with, and she didn't know who! She'd spent _years_ to learn a spell strong enough to transport someone through elaborate wards, and some more years to gain enough magical experience to even attempt it!

And now... now, he effort's all for naught.

Her Harry's not with her, and she's going to Azkaban...

No.

No.

No.

No!

She will not go to Azkaban without having Harry with her! He is hers, and she will never let him go! But who had him? Not her, for sure!

"Ms. Ginerva Weasley, you are under arrest!"

She jumped at the person who'd suddenly appeared out of nowhere into the Shrieking Shack.

"No! I will not let you take me, until I have my Harry all to myself!" she shrieked, and she directed her magic to Apparate her away. It'd be her first time Apparating, but she didn't care if she splinched herself. She wanted her Harry, and she will have him!

"Stupefy!" the person said, and she wasn't quick enough to throw up a shield to deflect his spell. She wanted to growl at him, but she couldn't do anything--except see who it was who caught her.

It was her own father, and flanking him were two Aurors. The betrayal and sadness in his eyes didn't do anything to her mad, mad mind.

* * *

The place he slept in glowed lightly, and he could tell that his own Magical Reserves were far too depleted to keep him alive anymore. But a brush of his intended's magic sparked something in him. He reached around blindly, trying to figure out what happened.

"Ha...rry..." a voice rasped, and it sounded somewhat disjointed. And yet, when a weight settled onto him, he sighed in relief. The weight was warm, comforting, and he hugged it to his chest as if it were a doll. A warm, warm doll. One that could talk and felt just like his intended.

"Wa....ke uuppp...." the voice rasped once again. He shook his head, it's not time yet. But he could feel the tendrils that kept him bound there loosening, and the fog that made him feel sleepy slowly dissipated. He snuffled and hugged the warm doll tighter into his embrace.

"Wake... Up..." the voice got stronger, and he frowned. It's not time for him to awaken yet, then why...?

"Please..." the rasped word his intended's voice said was the last straw. He gave in and sighed.

And when he opened his eyes, they were glowing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can anyone guess what just happened? And yes, I quoted this chapter's line back in chapter... 30, I think. Not sure. But I did. :) Are you all mad now? Ready to butcher me into teeny-tiny pieces? Because I won't be updating for a while for college stuff (exams are in two weeks D: Forgive meeeee!!!) So please be patient. :D
> 
> And once again, I apologize if I'd offended anyone two chapters back in my A/N D: Thank you to Mirage for informing me of my slight m(-_-"m)
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	44. Love In Exchange For Freedom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title's a bit ambiguous, but we'll get to that ;9 News to everyone; I'm doomed. I forgot that there's an Algorithm assignment due in 3 hours, and here I am writing, so give me an applause. I should be getting ready though... I've finished my last coffee in preparation for class D:
> 
> Now, here it goes... Enjoy!

_The-Boy-Who-Lived, Missing?!_

_That's right dear readers, Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, had gone missing! Who is The-Boy-Who-Lived, you ask? Currently, there is no witch or wizard that had heard about the Darkest Lord You-Know-Who, don't know about The-Boy-Who-Lived. He was the only one who'd survived the Killing Curse, cast by He-Who-Must-Be-Named himself, and lived to tell the tale, at the age of one. He's currently enrolled into Hogwarts for his 5th year and had participated in the Triwizard Tournament as one Ginerva Weasley, as Hogwart's Champion's, Third Task Partner._

_As we all know, dear readers, the Triwizard Tournament had been revived once more, hosted at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as of last year (1995). Recently, the Third and Final Task had been concluded with a shocking end, with the arrest of one Ginerva Weasley for reasons unknown, and The-Boy-Who-Lived going missing! That's right folks, The-Boy-Who-Lived had gone missing!_

_The Ministry Aurors and Professors from Hogwarts, as well as other professors from the well-known schools abroad, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, had been searching for him, and had not yet found any clue whatsoever as to where one Harry Potter could be. For now, this article will be concluded, but stay tuned, as I will find more information regarding the case, on both the disappearance of Harry Potter and the trial of one Ginerva Weasley, which will be held next Tuesday at 9 AM._

_For more information on the Triwizard Tournament: page 8; Beauxbatons and Drumstrang: page 5; Ginerva Weasley and her connections to Harry Potter: page 10._

* * *

 

The Aurors tried to hold her back, they really did, but with her thrashing and uncontrolled magic shattering everything it could, they had to tie her on a magic-suppressing leash, and dragged her down to the holding cells. Arthur Weasley followed them with a solemn face, for he was needed to become a witness, alongside the other Weasleys. The Aurors shoved his daughter none-too-gently into the holding cell, and one of them had to shove a sleeping draught down her throat for extra measures.

The only person whom had gotten away from a holding cell by brute force was one Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black, and currently, Ginny expression was the exact same expression as hers. He shuddered when he remembered how the insane Lestrange had uncontrollably cast multiple  _Crucio_ 's and even the Killing Curse when the Aurors dragged her down the holding cells.

It was also why she was immediately sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss after her first 10 years of Azkaban. She had been  _this_ close to escaping the prison, and had the Auror patrols not come down that usually-avoided Azkaban hallway, she might just have escaped.

"Arthur Weasley," a gruff voice said, and he turned to see an Auror gesturing for him to go into the interrogation room. He sighed and looked back at his unconscious daughter once more before entering said interrogation room.

"I don't know where and how I failed to raise my daughter correctly," he admitted when the Auror gestured him to speak his point of view first. "I didn't even realize that she'd changed so much, became so, very obsessed with Harry after seeing him... Maybe it's because she thought that he could be her knight in shining armour, her prince charming, but honestly, I thought that it was just that, a crush's daydream. She became so obsessed after her First Year, but I thought it's just a phase she was going through.

"But now that I see her... Like this... I can't say that I'm heartbroken about her actions," he laughed bitterly. The Auror nodded with a sympathetic gaze, though his face remained stern and stoic.

"Do you have any idea why she'd change?" he asked.

"I'm not sure..." Arthur frowned. "She just... suddenly became very obsessed after her First Year, and I'm not sure why that happened in the first place." The Auror nodded.

"I'm honestly suspecting that there might be compulsions going on, or something concerning mind magicks. Because in every case, whenever people go overly obsessed like this, or become bat shit crazy, it'd be either due to a miscast  _Imperio, Obliviate,_ or even a prolonged exposure to the  _Cruciatus_ Curse," he explained, unrepentant even when Arthur frowned at him like  _that_ when he said the curse word.

"Although, if she's been affected since her First Year, then I'm afraid that curing her of this ailment is close to null."

Arthur's crestfallen face said everything he felt about her situation. But in his eyes, there was a flicker of understanding, and he looked to the floor.

"I... understand," he said, trying to hold back his tears.

"I'm no Mind Healer, though," the Auror tried to placate, but Arthur just shook his head. The Auror went silent after that. "Thank you for your cooperation," he said eventually, when Arthur made no move to say anything else.

"My pleasure to be of help," the Weasley patriarch said hollowly before leaving. He was going to lose his only daughter, and the Auror had a grim expression on his face. He knew how it felt to lose a child, nevermind your only daughter when you've been hoping for one for  _years._ But if they need to be let go, then when it was time to do so, just do it.

He shuffled his papers to get them back in order once more. The next one he'd be interrogating would be Ronald Weasley.

* * *

Voldemort grinned as he watched the boy sleep. He was in a magically-induced coma, and from what he'd heard from his followers, he wouldn't be waking up anytime soon, as he'd accidentally unlocked his full magical potential. He didn't care though, that the boy could possibly die from the overflow of his own magic. Rather, he'd love to see it, since not many could ever unlock it early, and most didn't survive anyway. So why not?

He sipped his coffee--black with a dash of milk, just how he liked it. Sure, he knew that he should kill him, for vanquishing him so easily--he was far too strong for his own good, but... There was something about him that he liked. It'd be such a shame to kill him before he found out what it was... But if he died from the influx of magical powers, then it couldn't be helped. It'd mean that he was too weak anyways.

Possessing the Umbridge woman was also a pain in the arse, she was as disgusting as a woman could become, and more. Really, using Blood Quills on student? Good thing she died in order for him to gain a new body. At least his time in possession of her wasn't wasted--he'd gotten both the Gaunt Ring and Ravenclaw's diadem in order to overpower the woman enough for him to keep on possessing her as long as he had.

Sure, he'd lost two horcruxes, but he needed them to survive. That's the reason he made it in the first place anyways.

He calmly sipped his coffee, his eyes trailing over to the newspaper in his hand from the boy, sleeping in his bed. He smirked at the article and threw it onto his work desk--the mass media is always so much fun to play with...

* * *

"I call order to the court," Amelia Bones said, her voice strong and clear, demanding yet not overly so. Everyone settled when they heard he voice, and she nodded. "Bring the accused in!"

The doors opened, and Aurors pulled her on a magic-suppressing leash, as if she were a feral creature, ready to strike at anyone and everyone. Her own brother, Percy, only looked at her with a disapproving glare--probably because she was screaming profanities to everyone she could. Her eyes were wild, and he shuddered to think that she'd  _really_ gone feral, even though she didn't have any creature status.

Amelia read out her crimes-- _accused_ crimes--and she looked at the young girl with grave eyes. "Do you plead guilty?"

"I'm innocent!" she snarled, and Amelia winced when those crazed eyes reminded her of a certain woman. "He's mine, MINE! You have no right to steal him from ME!"

"Silence," she commanded, and the girl complied almost immediately. "You still plead innocent, even after you'd willfully, and knowingly, endangered another student by making them enter the Triwizard Tournament, despite his wishes against it?"

"He should've been accepted! Should've been chosen for this! He's destined for it! He wouldn't be endangered anyways, he will never die," she laughed. "He never will, and he is mine!" There was a deep growl from somewhere in the witness stand, yet no one looked as if they heard it. Ginny did, though, and she just sneered at them. "You will never understand," she snarled.

"Ms. Weasley," Amelia reprimanded. "You will now be checked by a Mind Healer to see if you'd been under compulsion in any way to make act like this," she said, before gesturing for said Healer to do their job.

"I've found traces of mind-altering spells in her mind--what those spells were, I cannot identify," he said. "But it'd been there for a long enough time that even if we tried to cure her, it'd instead break her mind completely, and worst case scenario, she'd end up like... one Bellatrix Lestrange," he shuddered.

"I see," Amelia said sadly. "The court will now take a break to discuss what her punishment will be."

* * *

He opened his eyes, blinking blearily to chase away sleep. He didn't know where he was, but he felt as if he'd been hit by the Hogwarts Express, and then proceeded to get stepped on by Hippogriffs. His head pounded from prolonged sleep, and the room was dark, too dark for him to see anything. But he could feel sheets beneath him, and the softness of it made him feel like purring.

A flash of light filled the room, and he winced when it stabbed his eyes, merciless in its' power.

"Welcome back, Harry Potter," a familiar voice said. With a hopeful light in his eyes, Harry looked towards the silhouetted form.

His face fell, when instead of Tom, it was... some noseless guy.

"Umm, hello?" he asked tentatively. "Who are you?"

"I am," he said with a flourish, "Lord Voldemort."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was a quiz. And I am very sure I failed it, all because I forgot how Knapsack problems are solved, and also about compressing data and such. Not sure what it's called. And also, I don't know how courtrooms and judges stuff go, so the scene was a bit sketchy D: And also, sorry for the late update! I'm still in the process of making an artbook, due in... 2 weeks. Oh god D:
> 
> Also, funny thing, I was browsing through fanfics to read earlier, and then I found this fic XD And I saw a very magical number in the bookmark amount; 666. My friend and I laughed so hard at that for some reason (probably stress) and we joked that the devil him/herself actually read this fanfic and said, "Oh, this author should be a great addition to Hell!" before bookmarking this story XD Yeah, we've had so much stress lately D:
> 
> Thank you for reading! :D
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	45. Decisions, Decisions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To summarize my life; I'm alive, to die someday :D Jk. I have a splitting headache right now and I'm afraid I'm really coming down with something--right before exams! D: Tomorrow is my first exam.... So please, illness, spare me from your wrath, or I will find a way to dissect virus, no matter what I have to use! (I know they're nearly impenetrable, but can't help trying, right?)
> 
> Another development, guys... I keep getting hungry for no reason D: But enough of that, I'll eat after this chapter's done--or halfway done at least. Enjoy!

"You will be sentenced to 15 years of Azkaban, followed immediately by going through the Veil once released, and a fine of one million galleons to one Harry Potter," the judge's hammer went down, and the sound of wood hitting wood rang through the court room, deafening in its' silence. Everyone sighed in relief, even as Ginny raged about how unfair it was, that Harry was her and even in death she will always be with him.

Her words sent ominous chills through everyone present, but everyone knew that once you go through the Veil, your soul will stay there with little hope of reincarnation. Tom expected nothing less.

But now... Now he needed to know where his Harry was taken to, and remembering that it was another version of him--the snake-like persona whom he called 'Lord Voldemort'--he knew exactly where he'd bring Harry. It'd be the first place he'll search, and after that, a few other places. If he didn't find Harry by the end of the day, he'd rip night away like it was old paper and  _make_ the day stay.

He strode out of the courtroom with billowing robes, a skill he'd learned long before he became a Dark Lord, and walked purposefully to the Apparating Area. He didn't notice the raised eyebrows of Lucius and Severus, the former there because the one trialed was a Weasley, and the latter there due to the Headmaster's order. Only when Lucius saw Severus' amused raised eyebrow did he begin to suspect something, something that made dread coil in his stomach.

He refused to believe it, though, so he ignored his suspicions until when something else confirmed it further, or debunked it altogether.

* * *

"You're... Voldemort?" Harry asked quizzically, his shoulders tense.

"Indeed," he chuckled darkly, and Harry shivered when he felt... Voldemort's magic. But wait... isn't Tom Voldemort? Is this self-proclaimed Voldemort also a part of Tom from his Dark Ritual? How many did he make anyways? He'd be having a word with Tom later, but for now he refocused his attention to the Voldemort right in front of him. Now that he remembered that Tom was Voldemort, he knew somewhere in his mind that he'd not hurt him... maybe.

Nonetheless, that expression on his face made him feel... dangerous.

"Now, since you've helped me resurrect, I'll... reward you, for your generosity," he said. "It was, after all, thanks to you, who freed me in the first place."

With a wave of his hand, shackles appeared on the bed posts and attached themselves immediately onto Harry's wrists, trapping him in place. With shocked eyes, Harry looked at the Dark Lord in disbelief. Said Dark Lord only grinned maliciously at him. If he'd actually hurt him somehow... He narrowed his eyes.

"Release me," he demanded.

"No--" he started, but then he yelled in pain. Wide-eyed, Harry watched as the Dark Lord crumple to the ground, and as if he couldn't control his body, he waved his hand once more, and the shackles disappeared. "Wha...?"

Then there was the sound of a sharp crack of Apparition, and suddenly Tom was there.

"Tom!" Harry called, delighted. But when he saw his red, stormy eyes, his delight faded immediately. The older male was looking at Voldemort with an undecipherable look. He wanted to say something, anything, but he had a feeling that if he did say something, he'd regret it immediately. With an inaudible gulp, he froze and settled to watch how this new turn of events unfold.

* * *

Tom watched Voldemort--himself, technically, but you know what I mean-- critically, his eyes flashing angrily. His inner creature roared in fury for this person for taking his mate, but at the same time at him for taking away his mate, which was odd, but considering that Voldemort was him, before he met his Harry, was understandable.

"Hello, me," Voldemort grinned at him, and Tom kept on looking at him with furious eyes.

"I'm not you," he hissed quietly.

"How so?" Voldemort raised a hairless eyebrow.

"For one, I wouldn't dare hurt my mate," he said dangerously, taking one step towards the other, foolish Dark Lord. "Another thing is, while I am the Dark Lord, I do  _not_ do things like a Gryffindor would, charging in recklessly and creating a war."

"It's a necessary war!" Voldemort said agitatedly, angry that his older self would contradict him. Of course he knew who he was immediately, he could feel his soul trying to get back to the main soul, making him gravitate towards him, and yet... He didn't want to. Who was this person, claiming that he, Lord Voldemort, Heir of Slytherin, was acting like a Gryffindor?!

Tom just raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at him. "A necessary war that turns others from our beliefs?" he questioned. "A necessary war that sacrificed many of our most loyal? Avery, maybe? A perfectly excellent healer and potions master? Or Bullstrode, one of the best duellist in both wandless and wordless spells? Oh, maybe Malfoy, who succumbed to a curse that made it look as if he had died of a Dragon Pox?"

"Their sacrifices were necessary," Voldemort frowned.

"For a useless endeavour!" Tom roared. "Tell me, I've been in the Ministry for 4 years, and I've made far more progress than I'd been doing for forty years!"

Voldemort's eyes narrowed into slits. "Our attempts at infiltrating the Ministry was blocked by that old coot, and you claim that you'd made progress in four years in the Ministry? Don't make me laugh."

"Creature Rights for monetary earnings, for creations of familial ties, for employment availability. An orphanage for abused and orphaned magical children, though Creature children and wizarding children will be separated as their needs will differ. The re-investigation on banned branches of Magical Arts. Should I continue?"

Voldemort's eyes could pop out of his sockets from how wide they'd gone, but no. They didn't.

"But... How...?" he asked in disbelief. "No, it can't be... Dumbledore wouldn't let you--us--you do anything of the sort! You must be lyi--"

"All true, as I'm now under the name Thomas Eoin Marvolo, rather than Riddle," he stated coolly. "A normal name that none will suspect would actually belong to the Dark Lord, and also two parts of my real name, so if anyone asks, or give me the Truth Serum, nothing would come up. It's a more... Slytherin approach, don't you think?"

* * *

Harry's eyes were open so wide, he didn't know if they would go back to normal. Tom had been away for so many hours, so many days, and while he did know that Tom was doing important things, he didn't know that they were so... noble, important. It made his respect for his Tom grow even more. But still, when Voldemort said,  _"Hello, me,"_ it made his stomach plummet. Now that he saw another side of Voldemort, the more dangerous, infamous part...

He'd made his peace before, when he only knew of the Tom-Voldemort, the gentle, caring Dark Lord. The one that made him feel safe and protected--the one who cherished him, and he cherished back. This... new Voldemort, he looked like someone who'd do so many bad things--already did, if the conversation he'd heard indicated anything.

Suddenly, dread filled him. He hoped that Tom wouldn't become this... this new Voldemort, this creepy, scary, unloving Voldemort. He was the cold North to Tom's warm South. The other side of the coin he never wanted to see, to know. If Tom became this-this evil Voldemort... If they merged and Tom  _became_ Voldemort...

His head throbbed a little, and he didn't want for it to come true--

_"Voldemort?" he asked the snake--_

Harry blinked. What was th--

 _"N-no! Don't lick there, it's dirty!" Oh, but it felt so good for something slick to be gliding over_ there--

"No..."

His head throbbed painfully, and he distantly felt laughter from somewhere in his mind--an evil cackle, if he had a say in anything. He wasn't aware that his magic was going haywire, the window shattered, the bed creaked and cracked somewhere, and the two older wizards stopped bickering and--

"H-Harry?" Tom whispered.

"Urgh..." he moaned in pain, his head feeling like it'd burst any moment now. He didn't hear Tom's silent curse, nor did he hear how Tom commanded Voldemort to not move, an act he did out of habit, from years of being a Dark Lord before becoming a wraith.

"Harry..." Tom stepped closer to the rather pained teen.

"Ugh, my head hurts," he said, followed by a whimper. he felt like he'd throw up, spill all of his insides and would still retch. It was exactly what he did--puke all over the bed, him rolling just in time as bile pushed itself out of his stomach.

"Harry, are you--"

"Please," he said, tears in his eyes. He didn't know what he was pleading for-- _why_ he was pleading for something. He just--just needed--he didn't know what he needed, but he needed  _something._

"Go call a Healer,  _now!_ " Tom said, banishing Harry's puke with a wave of his hand. He heard the sound of footsteps, rushing towards another room where he knew had a fireplace in it. But his whole attention was on Harry, his Harry that was clutching at his head and moaning in pain. The sound made his heart break, and he let out a frustrated noise. What's ailing him? He didn't know.

And his lack of knowledge made it all worse for him.

Gently, he laid a hand on the younger wizard's shoulder, and Harry immediately looked up to him. His pain-contorted face did nothing to soothe Tom's worries, but a slight glow in his emerald orbs made him suspect.

"Tom," he whimpered, tears shining in his eyes, his expression filled with confusion. "Wha-- what's happening to me...?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "But I need you to tell me what you're feeling, how you're feeling, so that I might know what's ailing you."

"Ugh, my head hurts, Tom," he started, but then doubled over with his hands pulling at his hair. "Hurts so much..."

Tom shushed him gently and sat next to him. His body was quickly heating up, and his inner creature reared its' head at such a high temperature.

"And--and I feel hot all over," he admitted. "And you're so cool, your body heat's so much cooler than mine, I--"

A rumbling noise came out of his mouth, something akin to purring. He pushed his face into Tom's neck and nuzzled his nose right at his sensitive spot. It made the older wizard shiver, but he needed to focus. He needed to find out what--

Ruby eyes went wide, and he let out a startled gasp. Harry's teeth found his most sensitive spot, and it made him growl. His little mate was trying to dominate him, and that was simply  _not acceptable._

 _With inhuman strength, Tom quickly flipped his Harry so that he lay on his stomach. His mouth found his neck and latched onto it, the sweet taste of sweat from his Harry's body tasted heavenly. He lapped at the sweaty spot for a while before biting down, drawing a scream out of the young teen below him. His bite_ must've been so painful, and he wanted to pull away- _but something was preventing him from stopping._

_He needed to mark his mate, and everyone will know that he's taken. Body, heart, and soul._

_He'd been so riled up ever since the gathering the wizards had, about some evil-born who tried to claim his mate, and being away for so long without knowing exactly where his little mate was had added fuel to the fire already burning deep in his heart. No one. **No one.** Takes anything away from him, especially his little mate._

_He unlatched his teeth from the soft neck, craning at him to bite him some more, and he obliged._

When he tasted blood, he snapped out of this... haze in his mind, and instinctively licked at the welling blood, healing it immediately. But it still left a scar on his Harry's lovely neck, but he wasn't too upset.  _He'd claimed him as his,_ and the scar was a permanent reminder of it.

When everything cooled down, a Healer had hurriedly walked into the room, seemingly out of breath. "I heard that there's an emergency here," he huffed, out of breath. Voldemort was nowhere to be seen.

"I need to know what happened to him," Tom said calmly.

"A-alright," the Healer nodded and set to cast diagnostic spells onto the now unconscious boy. Tom's eyes tracked each and every spell the Healer cast, and he narrowed his eyes dangerously when said Healer squeaked. Apparently, he'd realized that this was the missing Harry Potter. Not that Tom cared, he just wanted--needed to know what's wrong with his mate.

"A-ah, congratulations," he stammered. "Mister Potter here had... uhh, unlocked his full magical potential a few days ago, and survived."

Only the slight widening of his eyes indicated how surprised Tom was at the news.

"F-for a few days, he might feel the effects of unlocking his power boost, wh-which includes a high fever and a sore body, but those are nothing unusual."

"Thank you for your time," Tom nodded, his tone barely concealing his awe. His Harry, his little mate, had unlocked his full magical potential early, and survived. It was such a rare case and he was thankful that the only after-effects would be a high fever and a few sore spots on his body. Well, in his body too. Feeling a surge of pride from his chest, he laid down next to Harry, and wrapped his arms around the smaller body.

With just a thought, they apparated to Harry's bed in Black's Manor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly don't remember whether or not Harry knew about Tom being Voldie... I think he knew, but didn't remember... Other than that, I don't remember... I'm so tired... D:
> 
> Also, sorry for the late update, exams are actually very taxing. And there had been a few earthquakes, nothing major. Just that it created a few, small cracks in my place. You know. Small cracks. About 1 meter long. Very small. Right beside my bed. I swear every time I lay down in a specific way, I could feel an earthquake's shake, but it's actually my of foot bouncing like always... Huww...
> 
> \---- To be continued --
> 
> 31/1/2018: I just reread a few previous chapters (and added a bit of edits here and there too, but they're minor. Who knew I made so many typos and other grammatical errors?) and found that yes, Harry does know that Tom is Voldie, and that changes the whole game! So! I rewrote a lot of this chapter... /w\ Became far longer than I thought it'd be, but I think it's better. Also, the scene where evil-Voldie disappears was supposed to be in the next chapter, but I kinda fit that in here so... Yeah.


	46. Finally

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title's called Finally, because it's not final yet. It just means that you're finally getting the stuff you'd wanted ever since... well, forever. XD Anyways, great news! I edited the previous chapter, and it was, I note, a MASSIVE EDIT, so go back and reread the chapter! Go! Go! Go! XD
> 
> Also, I just printed my first artbook, and I feel like I'd just published my first book. I mean, a physical copy of my creations. Sure, it's for college finals, but it still feels so satisfying, I still grin just remembering about it. Still grinning. >w< I guess this is how authors feel when they first published their book to the world. Not the internet, but the real world. It just gives this... satisfied feeling, you know? I mean, sure I've been publishing fanfics into the internet, first in ff.net and then here, since I was 15 (I think) and in wattpad since I was 13 lol. But printing your own book gives you a different kind of satisfaction. And when you know that other people will be able to see, read, maybe even learn from said book, it's far more satisfying than I thought it'd be.
> 
> Wow such a long rant. For those of you who read that long rant, thank you for reading! :D Now on to the next chapter!

Voldermort sighed in relief, finding that after getting ordered to go get a Healer, he was free from whatever enchantment he was in. It was... odd, to say the least. He didn't remember anything that would make him obey both his older self's and Potter's commands. Maybe something went wrong in his ritual? Well, he did use an old and ancient ritual that wasn't actually Dark, as it was a ritual to call upon souls.

Though maybe the little tweak, which was Potter's blood, had messed it up somehow.

Was there something in his blood...?

He thought back to what could've been in the boy's blood, and he visibly paled, which was a feat since his skin colour was already papery-white. He didn't want to believe it, but... But if that were true, then... Then the potion Ginerva used to make Potter obey her, was used in the ritual. He cursed under his breath--that bint's gone and messed everything up!

He just hoped that his obedience didn't go to his followers, or else he'd be screwed.

* * *

Harry woke to a head-splitting headache, and delightfully cool arms around him. He blinked blearily, trying to wake up properly, thankful that it wasn't so bright outside, or else his eyes would be killing him. He could feel the faint thumping of a heartbeat, sedate, calm, and he was tempted to fall back asleep again, but he found that he couldn't. Sleep seemed to be the furthest thing he'd do right now.

He was aching, everywhere, and he just wanted--needed something. Someone.

He turned to face the person sleeping behind him, and pushed them by their shoulder. Red, red eyes blinked awake, and he heard him say something, but his mind couldn't process it right now. What he felt beneath his fingertips weren't the delightfully cool skin, and he didn't like it. With a thought, both their clothes disappeared, and the skin-to-skin contact made him moan in happiness.

He began biting every inch of the person beneath him, knowing that it'd make him feel better. This person beneath him will make everything feel better.

He'll chase away his pain, the heat coming from deep within him, fill up the emptiness he's feeling. Yes, yes he will, without a doubt.

Only he could do that.

He felt something poke against his leg, and looked down, only to find the most delicious-looking thing he'd ever seen. Licking his lips, he climbed down the body and nuzzled the warm and hard, yet soft erection the other sported. Inhaling deeply, he closed his lips around the flared head, his tongue tasting the precome pouring oh-so generously into his mouth, onto his taste buds.

The faintly salty, sweet flavour was both new and familiar to him, it tasted like... like  _Tom._

As if snapping out of a dream, he realized that he had Tom's erect member in his mouth, and that he was tonguing it eagerly, sucking it, wanting to get his delightful seed into his mouth. With that realization, came the embarrassment, but he found that he didn't care. He looked up at his Tom, who was looking at him with nearly black eyes, his scale-like skin gleaming like his eyes from the perspiration.

Pulling off of the best-tasting cock he'd ever tasted--not that he had anyone else's member to compare tastes to, no--with a soft pop, he crawled up once more and captured Tom's lips in the most toe-curling kiss he'd ever initiated. Sure, he and Tom had kissed a few times before, but it was always Tom who dominated it. Now, now it was him, the one exploring the other's mouth, the one suckling his tongue as if it was a treat.

Tom cursed-moaned, his hips jerking upwards. His prick slid past his own, and onto his stomach, making  _him_ moan in delight. That was good. That felt great. He lowered his hips just to feel that friction again, and started rutting against the other's hot and slick erection. He came from his senses overloading. It felt too good, and he was too inexperienced with these kind of things.

Panting, he collapsed on top of Tom, tired from the intense orgasm he'd experienced. He had a feeling that that was just the beginning though.

With a deep growl, Tom pulled him up and kissed him, and this time he was dominating it. Mewling helplessly, he felt his prick rising again, despite his recent orgasm. He felt his rear becoming wet, Tom must've cast a lubricating spell into his passage, and then a finger breached him.

He made an embarrassing and strange noise in his throat in surprise, and then purred. Had he been in the right state of mind, he'd have been surprised by the noises he made-- _purring!_ But as Tom added more fingers, stretching his passage carefully and delightfully as well, he found that he didn't care anymore. Especially when those fingers brushed against that bundle of nerves within him, he practically melted.

The chuckle Tom made in his ear sent shivers down his spine, and he mewled pleadingly. He didn't know what he pleaded for,  _but he needed it so badly._

"Fuck!" he cursed as Tom took out his fingers and proceeded to push his prick right into him. His eyes were wide, yet he saw nothing. With just one push, Tom had bottomed out inside him, and it felt like coming home. It felt like he belonged there, and as the cock inside him moved a little, it brushed against the bundle of nerves again, and he moaned low in his throat.

He might've heard Tom cursing under his breath too, but he couldn't care about that. He'd just come to the realization that  _Tom was inside him,_ and it made everything infinitely better. His headache disappeared and it felt as if he was seeing the world with utmost clarity.

Then he felt teeth in his neck, and nothing else seemed to matter anymore.

The heat inside him, stretching him to his maximum capacity, reaching parts inside him so deep that he never thought he'd feel it one day, and the pulsing.  _Oh, the pulse, it just made everything hotter, and his nerves all the more sensitive._ He didn't know how that was possible, but it apparently was.

And then it was gone.

He wailed at the loss, only feeling said head at his rear entrance--and moaned-sighed in relief when he was once more filled. It was like the perfect bliss, to be filled like so, and he wondered for a split second why he didn't do this before.

Everything felt like a blur afterwards, the friction inside him, the abuse to his prostate, the impending orgasm--until his vision whited out, and he felt Tom's orgasm deep inside him.

_It was so, so warm..._

His eyes fluttered close, and the last thing he felt was the feel of lips on his neck, his shoulder, face, ears--and he knew of nothing more.

* * *

The next time his eyes opened, it was to the feeling of someone stroking his hair gently, as gesture that he loved immensely. He leaned into the touch and purred.

"Good morning, Harry," Tom's voice whispered into his ear, and he nodded distractedly at his greeting. Tom chuckled at the adorable sight his Harry made--eyes closed in a picture of bliss, his neck and chest littered with hickeys and love bites, his hair mussed up more than normal, and his claiming mark, so red against his otherwise tan skin.

Now everyone will know that he was his.

He let out a pleased growl, obliging to his inner creature's wants. The answering purr was more than worth letting his inner creature out. He could see it,  _feel_ it, when Harry awoke enough to remember the night before. How he'd practically  _begged_ to be filled, to touch Tom.

What was more pleasing was the fact that his blue-balls curse had ended with Harry's full magical potential unlocking, and thus making him an adult in the eyes of Magick. It was a pleasing revelation, and he nuzzled Harry's neck for it.

"I feel dirty," Harry said, grimacing at the dried cum he felt on his stomach. Tom chuckled, and lifted him from bed in all his naked glory. With a yelp and a shout of indignation and embarrassment, Harry clutched at Tom's shoulders. The younger wizard glared at the older one, though the red cheeks ruined any kind of poison he might've wanted to send him.

"Then let's go take a bath, shall we?" Tom whispered in his ear. With a brighter blush--if that were possible--Harry buried his face into the crook of Tom's neck, nodding once his face was sufficiently hidden.

The bath was warm and relaxing, and Harry found that he quite liked to be pampered by Tom, as his hands massaged at all the right places and with the right amount of pressure that made him moan and practically melt. And what's more, sitting in the tub with Tom behind him, his legs caging him comfortably, was one of the most relaxing things he'd felt in his life.

It felt nice, to be cared for in this way, he found. He might get addicted to the feeling, and as long as Tom didn't mind doing so to him, he found that he didn't mind being touched so much, so often. With a sigh, he relaxed into the strong, solid body behind him, and hummed in happiness.

* * *

Voldemort had a great idea. To get the obedience potion out of his body, and still be a whole human being by the end of the day; possessing the main soul's body sounded like a great idea. With a familiar face, and a saner mind to boot, a 'someone' many people trusted, he could win this war easily! Yes, yes, he could do that, take over his main counterpart's body sounds like a great idea.

But he needed to overwhelm the main soul first to gain complete possession of said body. But... how...

The horcruxes.

He needed to merge with his horcruxes before he could overwhelm his main counterpart, and while he didn't like the idea of losing his safeguards, he needed to do it. Plus, he could just make more of them when he was finished. Yes, yes, that'd work.

With a terrifying smile, he apparated away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I intended to get this out yesterday, but I got stuck somewhere in the middle. Sorry about that. :D But as I said in the first A/N, I did a major edit in the previous chapter, so go and read it! The path hath changed, and it is now... umm, I'm not sure about interesting, but I'm sure it makes more sense now.
> 
> I don't make sense right now, though. It's almost midnight and I've been trying to make my sprites move... X...x So I guess even this A/N, I think is a bit weird and wouldn't exactly make sense. Am I even saying something of importance here? Hmm.... Idk. Lol. Also, all mistakes are mine, so if you find any please point it out!
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	47. Hatching Schemes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this morning, I was convinced I lost my phone, since I couldn't find it anywhere. After I've done my morning rituals, I finally found it under a book I was reading. I swear, it wasn't there before. On another note, I made a DeviantArt account, and am looking for art challenges (more like drawing challenges :P) so if you have any requests... just tell me. ;)
> 
> Anyways, holidays for 2 weeks! I've marked it in my calendar too, and I found a 'Good Friday' whatever that is. I just hope I do have classes on a Friday next semester, so I can have nice, long holiday... considering I don't have classes on Saturday, that is. D:
> 
> Enough about my life, let's get on to the next chapter! ;)

Remus was up early that morning, he wasn't sure why. Disentangling himself from his snoring lover, he got up and stretched languidly. A  _Tempus_ cast tells him that it was 5 AM, still early enough for him to check the children and make breakfast, and would still have to wake Sirius up. Really, he and his sleeping habits. One would think that after having children, he'd change, but no. He'd still wake up after 10 AM if he had any say about it.

Which he didn't.

With a sigh, he quietly made his way to the bathroom, quickly doing his morning ablutions, and then heading up to the triplets' bedroom. Dread settled inside when he found that the three menaces wasn't in bed, and in a panic, he rushed back to his bedroom and woke Sirius up.

"SIRIUS!" he shouted, opening his bedroom door with a bang, which effectively woke the other wizard up.

"Wha--?"

"The children! They're gone!" Remus said in a rush. "We've got to find them!"

"Oh fu--" Falling off the bed with a thud, Sirius scrambled to get up. "Did-did you smell anything amiss in their bedroom?"

Remus blinked, nearly face palming himself. He found some days that he forgot that he was a werewolf--that he was a wizard--and reverted to his old muggle customs. It was one of those days, it seems. He sniffed the air closely, and smelled... something utterly delicious.

He relaxed immediately, only one person could make something smell that delicious.

"Well?" Sirius asked, frantically trying to put on his trousers.

"Harry," he said with a sigh. Sirius halted in his movements.

"Harry?"

"Yeah, Harry. Only he could make food smell so--"

"Harry's here?!"

Surprise was evident in his tone, and Remus looked at the other quizzically.

"Well, he's--he's not missing anymore?" he elaborated.

"He was missing?"

"Yeah, it was in the papers!"

"You never told me!"

"Well, you should read the papers!"

"The house is warded against unknown owls! It includes post owls too!"

"Oh..." Sirius said, dumbfounded. Remus sighed, hating that he had to be confined within Black Manor since his status as a werewolf was revealed. Even mails had to be screened, and he'd only added a few owls to the wards, namely Hedwig and Pigwidgeon, Helen, Severus' owl, and Millia, McGonagall's personal owl. Fawkes wasn't technically an owl, so he wasn't added into the wards, though he could still come and go as he pleased.

"Come on, I think I know where they are," Remus said and pulled a barely-dressed Sirius to the kitchen.

True to his assumptions, the three children and both Harry and Thomas were in the kitchen, though Harry was wearing a high-neck shirt despite the warm temperature. With a sniff, his werewolf senses picked up a few things that made him sure of why he was wearing such a warm piece of clothing despite it being summer. Well, almost summer.

"Good morning," Remus said with a sly smile, which both Harry and Thomas picked up, much to Harry's embarrassment.

"Morning," they replied, as three voices said in unison, "Daddy!"

"Harry!" Sirius shouted in astonishment. "You're... you're here..."

"Umm, hi Siri," Harry said nervously.

"You're here! Oh thank Merlin!" he said, scooping up his godson into a huge embrace. Harry giggled at him and squirmed to get out of his hold.

"Siri, the pancakes are gonna get burnt!"

"I don't care!"

"Tom, flip the pancakes for me would you?" Harry said with a sigh. A quirk at the corner of the other man's mouth told him that he was more than amused at the turn of events, but obliged anyways.

"Where have you been?! Everyone's been worried about you!" Sirius asked, looking him all over, searching for injuries. "And why're you wearing a high-neck shirt? I's hot in here!" he added, as if only just noticing his clothing choice. Curious, Sirius pulled down the high-neck and widened his eyes at the sight of Harry's neck.

Stormy grey eyes met Thomas', and Remus knew that if he didn't stop it, all hell would break loose. And he didn't want that happening in front of the children.

"Let's have breakfast, shall we?" Remus said cheerfully, a warning hand landing on Sirius' shoulder.

"Who wants pancakes?" Harry asked the children cheerfully, thankful for the distraction Remus provided. The children enthusiastically cheered and they were quickly ushered to the dining room, ready to be served pancakes.

"We will talk about that," Sirius gestured to Harry's neck as he spoke, his eyes flashing in barely restrained anger, "later."

Thomas just nodded.

* * *

It should've been a bad idea, to place Ginerva Weasley in a cell right across Bellatrix Lestrange's. Auror Clint shivered everytime he went past their cells, their crazed eyes would follow his every move, sometimes he'd hear them get into a shouting match, one that would put out even Mad-Eye Moody. Even when food was withheld from them, they'd still somehow have enough energy to... debate... which bachelor was better.

Harry Potter or the Dark Lord himself.

He shivered each time they point out every 'good' they saw in each, and 'trade' fantasies about what'd happen if...  _when_ they had them in their clutches. He'd never thought he'd ever feel sorry for Harry Potter, much less Voldemort himself. He wondered how their family ever handled them. He knew that both Black and Lestrange families were... weird. To say the least.

But the Weasleys? They were the epitome of a 'good' family, second only to the Potters. Why did the youngest become just like Bellatrix? Were they connected somehow? Of course, he knew that all purebloods were somehow connected, always. Between he and the Lestranges, he was their distant cousin, their ten-times-great grandfather were siblings to each other.

Which technically means that he and Bellatrix were cousins-in-law. He shuddered at the thought but didn't think too far into it.

He was looking forward to a night of relaxation after tomorrow night, a night with his beloved wife, his five children, and maybe go on an all-day outing to celebrate his return from this horrid place.

As he turned around the bend, he was immediately face-to-face with a dementor, and in his shock, he didn't react fast enough, and his soul was sucked out of his body, only leaving a shell of his former self.

Ruby red eyes met his unseeing ones, and he didn't get to hear the terrifying cackle Voldemort made.

* * *

"... which was how we ended up going here," Tom said calmly in the face of a rather livid godfather. Well, more than livid. He was most parts worried and relieved, but his anger was pretty much evident in his eyes.

"That does not make it okay for you to be taking my godson's purity!" he roared. Tom sighed.

"Calm down, I didn't take it," he said, seeing Sirius deflate slightly. He smirked. "He begged for me to claim him."

Sirius was immediately floored, his mind conjuring images of Harry politely asking a beast like the Dark Lord to claim him. He glanced towards Harry, who was blushing but not looking the slightest bit guilty about it, making it clear that he hadn't lied at all. He felt his mind shutting down from the revelation, and thankfully Remus was there to catch him when he lost consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh nice, Sirius fainting. My hair's falling everywhere, and I just entered Year 3 in Stardew Valley, yay. And I haven't eaten the whole day, I just realized :/ I hope you enjoyed it, I couldn't make this chapter more... expressive, as I myself am finding that feeling numb is far less tiring.
> 
> On another note, my family, excluding my younger sibling, despises my choice in songs. I wonder why. :3 Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! This one's a quick update because this chapter's been festering in my mind for such a long time that I think I see a few fungi somewhere... Or that's just my hair, I'm not sure. :D
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	48. Breakthrough

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! I got into a nasty case of writer's block, which I easily cured with a three-step thingy! First is just be lazy, and laze around. Then do something you like, usually for me it's other than writing (reading or drawing). Finally, force yourself to write something, lest you get killed by the one person who knows you in both the internet world and real world, who is also your friend and sleeps, like, four floors above. "(.-.)" (my friend peeking from above lol)
> 
> Anyways, I'm a bit sad to announce that this fic is almost at its' end. Only a few chapters left, and then the epilogue. Or prologue. Wait... Epilogue. But wouldn't it be funny if I say the last, last chapter is a prologue, the end of the beginning and all that. XD I got a stomachache due to overeating chocolate--but I can't resist them! D:
> 
> I love chocolate, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Harry relaxed against the comfy sofa, with the triplets all around him. In his hand was a large fairytale book, one that had all kinds of fairytales, both magical and muggle stories. He was surprised that there were so many, and he only knew a few of them--and even then it was due to school.  _Alice In Wonderland_ for instance, and  _Cinderella_ (mostly because it was Aunt Petunia's favourite animation movie.)

He didn't know that there were more of those, like  _The Little Mermaid, The Sly Brothers,_ and more. As the children fell asleep with him reading the stories aloud, he himself became fascinated by the various worlds in said stories. He felt as if he was in the books' world, experiencing all the hurts and happiness the characters in the book experienced, and he even cried when Ariel became bubbles.

It just seemed too cruel to him, to disappear just when you want to be with the one you loved. He'd just finished reading Beedle The Bard's _The Tale of the Three Brothers_ story when he heard voices coming from the door leading to the hallway.

"...didn't think he'd move this fast," he heard Severus' contemplative voice.

"What would be his purpose to break into Azkaban anyway? Seems pointless to me," Sirius' grumbles followed.

"He might be freeing my... his... our followers," Tom said logically. The door then opened, and upon seeing Harry and the triplets, his harsh expression softened. "Good evening Harry."

"Good evening Tom, did Voldemort do something lately?" Harry asked, and he became apprehensive when Tom's expression hardened again.

"Freed a few prisoners in Azkaban, not that big a thing, really," Sirius shrugged, paling when he saw the expression on Severus' face. Both Tom and Severus pinched the bridge of their noses while Sirius looked sheepish. Harry became attentive, though.

"He's freed prisoners from Azkaban?" Harry hissed, feeling dread and anger bubble in his stomach.

"Apparently," Tom said. "And sadly, Ginerva's one of the people he freed, for some reason," Tom said, summoning that day's  _Daily Prophet_ and passing it onto Harry. Suddenly the room temperature fell a few degrees colder, and there was an absolutely murderous expression on Harry's face.

"Tom," he said calmly, "If you get ahold of Voldemort, let me... have a  _chat_ with him, will you?"

The three adults gulped, and Tom nodded.

"Dinner's ready," Remus' head popped into the room, looking out of place in the serious atmosphere. "Did I miss anything?" One look at Harry told him all he needed to know.

* * *

Voldemort felt a chill run though his spine, and he scoffed at himself. Lord Voldemort does  _not_ feel fear! Well, at least to something other than death. He sat on his throne, looking around the meeting room with a severe expression. "Tonight," he started dramatically, "we've gained more followers from Azkaban." The chilling smile he gave his followers was enough to make a few weak-willed Death Eaters piss themselves.

"My Lord, oh thank you my Lord! I've told them all that you'd come back! I did! And they dared throw me into Azkaban for that, my Lord!" Bellatrix said with a sparkle in her eyes.

"Yes, Bella, how dare they... but you've gained a... friend, now didn't you?" he hissed gleefully. Bellatrix cackled crazily, but Voldemort could hear her preen under his acknowledgement. "Even if she's a... blood traitor."

"But if she'd joined our cause, she wouldn't be a blood traitor anymore, now would she?" Dolohov sneered.

"Make no mistake," the girl in question spoke in surprising clarity. "I'm only tagging along so that I can get  _my_ Harry and bind him to me forever!"

The crazed look in her eyes was enough to set the Death Eaters on edge, and those who were almost as crazy as she was, or possibly more in Bellatrix's case, cackled at her words. Voldemort leaned back in his throne, and lifted a hand, indicating that he wanted silence. Everyone quietened down and watched him expectantly.

"We will strike," he said, and his Death Eaters cheered. "But first, we will need to recover our forces. Rejoice, as tonight, we will celebrate our freed prisoners, and then, we  _retaliate._ "

He ignored the deafening cheers his Death Eaters made, and relaxed into his throne. The same way he ignored the weird feeling in his stomach when the Weasley chit said that Harry was hers. The same way he ignored Bellatrix crawl into his lap and start to service him.

Today was a productive day, indeed.

* * *

Harry laid in his bed, unable to sleep. After Sirius practically banned Tom from entering his room without his Godfather's knowledge, he'd set up a ward on said room, and neither Tom nor Harry could find any loopholes in the wards. The cool sheets felt nice against his naked body, an arm rested on his forehead as he thought about how to get Tom back in his bed. No amount of tantrums could make Sirius undo it.

Just as he started to doze off, he had an idea--what if Tom didn't come to his bed? Rather, what if  _he_ came into Tom's bed?

A mischievous smile creeped up his face, and he got up. Pulling on a bathrobe--it was the nearest thing that could cover his nudity well, other than the bed covers of course--he walked out of his bedroom and went to Tom's. He didn't feel any wards, nor anything that would keep him out. Opening the door just a crack, he found that Tom was propped against the headboard, pillows stacked high on his back.

A book in hand and a magic light orb near him, he seemed to be reading, if not for his closed eyes and deep, calm, regular breathing. Harry's heart raced as he saw that Tom was only wearing an unbuttoned shirt and boxers, two articles of clothing that he could easily take off of him if he so wished to.

And he did.

Closing the door, he padded quietly towards Tom's bed, reaching almost reverently to the unbuttoned shirt that slipped easily off of his broad shoulders. The skin that was bared right in front of his eyes seemed so delicious, so tantalizing... he just had to worship him, with his touch, his tongue--he felt this deep need to mark him irreversibly. He didn't know what came over him, but he climbed up the bed and kissed every inch of skin that he could find on Tom's body.

The part he wanted to kiss the most was covered, sadly. With a light peck on the older man's lips, he sought to remedy that. Soon.

With a flick of his hand, the boxers Tom wore vanished, and his flaccid member laid innocently between his thighs, inviting Harry to touch it, to lick it, to taste it--

Light as a feather, his finger traced the flaccid cock, reverent in his every movement. His fingers explored the sensitive organ--how the flared head was exposed compared to his, whose foreskin still covered it, to the vein becoming visible as it became warmer and firmer, how the testicles seemed to be getting heavier and heavier, and nothing was happening. Yet.

Harry leaned down and sniffed at it, moaning at the musky smell that was just  _Tom._ He wanted--no needed--to taste him. He had to.

Tentatively, he licked the flared head, feeling with his tongue every bit of soft, salty skin. A swipe to the slit let him taste Tom firsthand--musky, salty, bitter... sweet. It was... sweet. The realization made him moan--he might not get used to the bitter taste, no, but the sweet-salty taste that accompanied it just... he felt that it just tasted like  _Tom._

_Delicious._

_He practically purred as he slurped the whole thing down his throat, feeling how it collided against the back of his throat, inhaling and getting a far more intense scent of_ Tom.  _He loved it. He heard a groan from above, and looked up with wide, green eyes, which made him look very innocent. Or so his friends said, at least._

_He found red, red eyes meeting his vibrant green ones, and he moaned._

_Hands grabbed at his head, gentle and firm, commanding. Pleasing._

_When the older male practically pounded his mouth, he loved it. He smiled and moaned happily at the feeling of a firm, warm cock going down his throat--the feeling of his mate's cock going down his throat. His nose was buried into Tom's pubic hair, the pulsing cock going even further_ down  _his throat, if it were possible. He felt liquid going down his gullet, and wished to taste it also._

_He pulled back and sucked the last bits of come from the still-hard erection, savouring the taste, the texture of Tom's come._

"Delicious,"  _he purred._

_His Tom said something--spluttered something about him--but he didn't pay attention. He needed that hot, hard cock to ram his arse so hard, he'd feel it into eternity. He craved it far too much, and--_

_He summoned a tube of lube and opened it with his teeth, ripping the cap off of the spiral guard of the tube. Pushing his face into Tom's pelvis, chest onto the bedsheets, he gave his mate a show of him showing the long nozzle of the tube right into his arse, and squirted it right into his arse. He shuddered at the feel of liquid going right into him, making him imagine how it'd feel to have Tom's come sloshing in his insides._

_Yum._

_He'd like that, a lot._

"Wait, Harry,"  _Tom said, but Harry wasn't waiting. He straddled Tom's waist and sat right onto the rigid cock aiming straight for his arse. It was heaven._

_He didn't need to prepare himself, his body will always readily open up for his Tom. All he needed was lube, and he loved how right that was once he bottomed out on his first try._

_"... Tom," he whisper-moaned the name, and then proceeded to bounce up and down the long, thick cock, loving the feel of it going into his arse, filling him up, and sliding out of him, leaving him wanting... needing more. "More, oh Tom, more!"_

_He didn't care that he was acting like a complete whore at the moment, he just needed more, more, moremoremore--_

_He clamped down, hard, on the cock inside him as his orgasm tore through him, feeling warmth exploding right into him. But it wasn't enough, he wasn't filled yet. No, no--_

_"More," he growled. Suddenly he was flipped, and he had his back on the bedsheets now, his mate's hot erection embedded deep into him. The growl he gave him was far too arousing, and Harry mewled._

_"Mine," Tom growled, pulling out and then sliding back in with such precision that made Harry see stars._

_"Yours, Tom, always, yours," Harry panted. "More, need more, fill me up, please Tom?"_

_Another growl answered him, and so many times he saw stars, he eventually passed out._

When Harry woke up, he was mortified that he had dried-up essence all over his front, his belly distending a little, with Tom's flaccid cock embedded deep inside him. And yet... it was so peaceful, he felt so  _safe, so right, so... so... needed, wanted,_ he mewled, purring to his mate.

In his sleep, Tom rumbled happily in reply.

Only this moment existed, and nothing else matters. The whole world paled in comparison to being in Tom's arms, and he wouldn't change it for anything. Ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took far longer than I realized to finish... D: Shout out to my classmate Virya for giving me that one last push towards breaking my writer's block! Also, anyone know Within Temptation? I like Memories far too much... X3 And this semester's gonna kill me--4 final projects in 4 different subjects?! Yeah, they're aiming for the 'insane' approach... =.= With that said, though, I'm actually pretty excited for the one my team's developing for a mobile game... If we actually complete it, I'll share you a link for where we're posting the download thingy! :D
> 
> Enough of my RL rant, if you didn't read all of it, to sum it up, I'll be busier this semester so don't count on me updating really quickly.
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	49. Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm lame at chapter-naming, so...
> 
> And I've got a holiday today! (Tomorrow, if you're in, like, the majority of the world) and it's 12:18 AM and I'm not sleeping... I want chocolate right now, but my roommate told me that I'm consuming far too much sugar (or was it glucose, the word she used...?) Not that I'm denying it, really. But I tend to get too lazy to eat that I would actually skip a whole day of meals just because I'm lazy. Huh. Sloth is dangerous, I guess.
> 
> Now let's get on to the next chapter! Enjoy~

Harry felt apprehension at the sight of the Burrow, the wonky house exuding warmth, but reminding him of where Ginny came from--lived before she... before. But Sirius insisted that the Weasley's had been beside themselves in worry for him, and that Molly looked terrible due to depression. Well, who wouldn't be? Her daughter had just been Trialed and sent to Azkaban, due to a mental illness she'd developed whenever it was in the past few years, without her knowing.

Sirius nudged his forward, guiding him to the Weasley's house. Dread filled his heart--will they blame him for making Ginny land in Azkaban, even though it he who was the victim? He remembered how Aunt Petunia would always take Dudley's side in an argument, just because he's their son, not because he's perfect in every way in their eyes, and hoped that it wasn't the case.

The door opened, and the dread increased tenfold. He cursed Tom for having work to do in the Ministry--something about more passing laws and such--and gulped to calm himself.

"Harry!" a familiar shriek came from the open doorway, and before he knew it, his face was hidden in the Weasley Matriarch's bosom. "Oh, Harry, are you hurt? You're gone for so long, he didn't do anything untoward to you, did he? Oh my gosh, you're so skinny! Did he even feed you? Sirius Black, answer me--did You-Know-Who feed him properly when he was with him?" she demanded in a single breath.

"I'm fine, Mrs. Weasley," Harry's response was muffled due to his position, but Molly didn't seem to realize.

"He came into his magical maturity prematurely, and he said that he'd been unconscious the whole time, hence his skinnier frame," Sirius explained, though not a complete lie, not a complete truth either. He knew that Harry will always be skinny due to the way he was brought up, no matter how much he ate, how often. A grin in Harry's direction let him know that he said that deliberately, and he gave him a scathing glare in response.

Not that Harry didn't like Molly's cooking, rather he loved it, but she just gave him too much on a regular meal.

"I'm fine, Mrs. Weasley," Harry repeated, pulling back from her smothering embrace a tad bit so that he could be heard. She gave him a 'look', the kind that mothers would give to particularly naughty children.

"How many times should I tell you to call me Molly?" she admonished, and Harry blushed.

"Sorry Mrs.--Molly."

"Good. Now come in, both of you--I made curry!"

She ushered both Harry and Sirius inside, and gave them a large helping of curry and rice.

"Ron! Hermione! Harry's here!" she called, and the floor above became loud with footsteps, sounding not unlike an elephant's march, and before Harry could eat a bite of his curry, his mouth was filled with a bush of brown hair. There were calls of 'Harry!', with a multitude of questions that came from too many people's mouths that he couldn't discern who was asking what.

"Now, now, give Harry some room and let him eat," Molly said with another 'look', the same look that he'd seen her give the twins before she severely punished them (a.k.a. taking away their cauldrons that they used to experiment on a few products, and also their wands.) The others immediately backed away, except for Ron. He seemed to have a lot of questions at the tip of his tongue, just waiting to be released.

He held up a hand to halt any from coming out. "As Molly said, I need to eat, so please save it for later," he said seriously. His words made Molly beam, and Ron's eyebrows to furrow.

"Who are you and what have you done to my best mate?" he demanded. In response, he stuck out his tongue and kept on eating the delicious curry. When he heard Ron's laugh, he knew that he also knew that he was joking. A relatively peaceful meal later--well, as peaceful a meal as one you're having while feeling people's gazes and questions directed solely  _at_ you--Hermione was the one to ask the first question.

"Where did she take you?"

Harry blinked in incomprehension. She, who? Clearly seeing his confusion, Hermione coughed, clearing her throat, before she elaborated.

"The story from the papers, the Ministry's version, and also the public version, said that Ginny was the one to set up the portkey--the one that took you away--which is why they detained her, well other than because she was due detaining ever since she put your name in, of course, and thus violating the law since she knowingly put another student in danger, and--"

"'Mione, chill!" Ron grinned. She blushed and mumbled a vague apology. "Long story short, according to the papers, Ginny created the portkey, but wasn't able to retrieve you."

"Oh," Harry nodded. "Well, believe it or not, the portkey led to--the Chamber of Secrets."

"The Chamber of Secrets, as in... _Salazar Slytherin's_ Chamber?!" Hermione gasped.

"Um, yeah," Harry nodded, only now realizing that he hadn't exactly told them about the Chamber. It was his and Tom's secret place, so why should he tell them? But then again, this information coming to light  _now_ seemed... dangerous.

"You've been in Slytherin's Chamber for such a long time, I'm impressed that you're still alright, mate!" Ron shook his head.

 _'Why shouldn't I be?'_ he thought to himself, but outwardly nodded. Which the redheads and Hermione took as agreement, though Hermione still looked at him suspiciously.

"I got rescued quickly enough," he grinned.

"By who? You-Know-Who?" Hermione asked with a frown. "The only ones who could enter Slytherin's Chamber are those who could speak Parseltongue, which would be you and You-Know-Who. And the timing seems a bit... convenient, what with the Azkaban break-out and You-Know-Who appearing out of nowhere..."

Ever the sharp one, Hermione.

"Actually, yes I did get... well, rescued seems to be the wrong word, but he took me out of the Chamber, which led to my eventual rescue," Harry explained.

"That makes sense," Hermione said with a nod, but Harry found her tone to be a little bit... sarcastic? Maybe there was sarcasm somewhere in her tone, which he detected for some reason.

"Yeah, mate, had You-Know-Who not taken you out of the Chamber of Secrets, you wouldn't be rescued," Ron grinned. "Thank Merlin for small mercies!"

Ever the oblivious one, Ron.

Harry grinned. Even after the scare--of him disappearing for a while--his two friends hadn't exactly changed. Not much.

"Well, as fun as that sounds--"

"--you still gave us a scare, Harrykins."

"So!"

"We've got a proposition for you!"

The twins spoke after a while of silence, everyone trying to let the news sink in.

"A... proposition...?" he asked, instantly weary. Nothing good would come out of the Twins making a proposition with him. Well, not nothing, but mostly. The two grinned.

"Well, you see,--"

"--the pink toad had disappeared--"

"--and we were just about to set her--"

"--for a prank of her life!"

"Well, as a test subject actually--"

"--but you get the idea!"

Oh right, Umbridge had become the living sacrifice Voldemort needed to resurrect. It seemed like such a minor detail, such a long time ago that it had happened, that he'd forgotten. Then that brings them to their words' implication--

"You want me as a test subject...?" he asked wearily.

"Well--"

"--if you're offering--"

"We're not complaining!" they said in unison. Sirius just laughed at his paling face, and Harry shot him a nasty look. The Black Family Head grinned at him unrepentantly. Harry sighed.

"Fine, as long as it isn't too..." he trailed off when an earthquake shook the place right to its' foundations. Before he knew it, the walls around them caved, and the upper floors seemed to be crashing down at them, had both Harry and Sirius hadn't been quick enough to conjure a shield charm. Within minutes, the Burrow had crumbled to the ground--quite literally--and the only place safe from the raze was the place where they all were.

There was a loud cackle, which reminded Harry briefly of an evil witch's cackle in the cartoons Dudley watched when they were younger--though it sounded far more deranged than that.

"Harry!" a familiar sing-song voice said, and cold dread filled him.

Standing in front of the previously still-standing Weasley house, was the youngest, deranged Weasley herself.

"Ginny?!" Molly cried out, but in confusion, terror, and dread.

"Hi Mum!" she called happily, her smile showing far too many teeth.

"What--"

"Capture them," a cold, hissy voice said, and Harry's attention immediately turned towards--

"Voldemort," he said with wide eyes.

There was a huge explosion, and Harry found himself several feet in the air, the ringing in his ear painful for him. But before he could grasp on his senses and reorient himself, he heard Ginny's voice;

"What a great reunion we're having!"

And pain exploded on the back of his head, before unconsciousness claimed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! A longer chapter! News here: I have 7 final projects. Just wanted to let you know! :D
> 
> So what did you think about this chapter? Voldie strikes real fast, huh...
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	50. Not Over Yet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am. Officially. Dead.
> 
> So. A story of what's been happening to me (skip this A/N if you're not interested): As I said, I had 7 final projects for this semester, and each and every one of those projects consist of different people (in my group) and I can't remember which project is with whom, and so on. What's worse? In one of those classes, I need to code in hackerrank (some place where people code, and other people search for people who can code.) And I can't--for the life of me, I canNOT--code. Sure, I can do the 'Hello World' thing, and also make beginner-level stuff (which sometimes doesn't even work) but this? This is like, competition-level stuff. And there's also the stuff that I have to do, to learn, with softwares that I don't have, and I'm slowly dying D: To alleviate my stress levels, I went to NaNoWriMo, which is a good thing since I'm getting de-stressed every time I continue writing my novel, and I've been drawing (other stuff than sprite sheets) and trying new art styles and make them work, and I also need to think about which programme I'll take for next year for my thesis, and I can't chill when I have all these things on top of me, and I usually write when I'm chill. So I am officially dead. How I found time to write this, I don't know.
> 
> That was a huge load off of my shoulders, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! (Title inspired by Daughtry's song It's Not Over since I'm listening to it rn)

Tom smiled charmingly at the people in the meeting. "You see, there are some things that we can't do  _without_ the help of these creatures," he said calmly. "Most Vampires could become Aurors, as long as they have access to blood banks, and werewolves are only dangerous in the full moon. They're stronger than most people, even with wizards and their feather-light charms and levitation charms, there are just some things that we can't lift no matter what."

"But they're  _beasts!_ They're dangerous, and--"

"And Veelas always have the best taste in design. Remember the designer of Ruella? If I'm not mistaken, most of their clothing line was made by a Veela," he pressed, his eyes glinting with passion as he said it. The woman gulped, and he knew that she was reconsidering the bills. Or reconsidering her clothing choice, and she was wearing a beautiful designer dress by Ruella.

"You--you'll undermine the whole of Wizarding World if you change the dynamics like this!" and elderly man--the Hales' family Head, someone whom hated all creatures from both side of magical spectrum.

"If we leave it like this," Tom hissed, "Repressing both Light and Dark Creatures, they will eventually create a rebellion, and this time it'd be worse than the last war." His eyes flashed red for a second before he managed to control his emotions. Thankfully, not many saw it, and even if they did, they'd think that it was the trick of light.

"They're beasts! They need to be controlled!" someone objected. Tom raised an eyebrow.

"Do you think wizards should be controlled? Muggles should be controlled? Muggleborns or Muggle-raised should be controlled? I think not," Tom said coolly. "You can't deny the fact that even if they're currently beasts, sometime in the past, deep down inside, they were also humans, just like us. If we continue on what we're doing to them--giving them so many limitations that they're just barely surviving, they can't even buy basic healing potions, much less--let's say, for werewolves, the Wolvesbane."

"One day, if we keep up this kind of attitude, the beasts wouldn't be them, but it'd be us," Arthur Weasley said quietly, to which Tom nodded. A few spluttered at his words, but most contemplated it and nodded in agreement.

"I support this bill," Madame Longbottom said, the first time she'd uttered anything ever since the meeting started.

"I support it too," the Weasley patriarch agreed. A few other murmured in agreement.

"I object! This bill is a waste of time, and will undermine our superiority as Wizards and Witches!" someone shouted vehemently, but many were already signing their agreement on the bill.

"How many agreement signatures do we need for this to pass?" Arthur asked.

"Since there are 48 people in attendance... at least we'd need 30," Tom murmured back. A while later, the documents disappeared and with a simple spell, the observer of the meeting counted the agreement signatures.

"There are 34 people out of the 48 in attendance who agreed to this bill, and so, it shall be passed. So mote it be."

The cries of outrage was silenced immediately by a wave of magic that passed over them, signalling that said bill was in effect.

* * *

"It's great to be doing something good for people like Remus, to be honest," Arthur said with a relieved sigh. "Thank you for your help, Thomas, or else we wouldn't have been able to convince as many people to sign the bill."

"No need to thank me," Tom shrugged. "It's just... it's something that I've been wanting to do for a long while."

"You mean, including the proposal to open up a magical orphanage?"

"Including that. I'm still appalled by how many people didn't like the idea at first," Tom rolled his eyes, though he knew that they begrudgingly accepted the idea eventually when more than a few cases of child abuse had come to light within the first month of opening said orphanage. Now it held around five dozen children who were orphanages, or had an abusive or neglectful childhood.

Arthur waved at him when they had to part ways, as he usually used the Floo to go back home. Tom heard the words, "The Burrow," and turned to leave, but the Weasley patriarch was spat back out of the Floo. He frowned and tried again, this time being more specific, but it still spat him back out.

"Huh, that's weird," he muttered. "The Floo wouldn't spit me back out unless they locked down the Floo connection, and even if that's true, I'm the Head of the Weasley Family..."

"Maybe something happened to the Floo back in the Burrow?" Tom suggested. Arthur's eyes widened and he quickly made his way to the Apparition point, Tom following closely.

What they saw when they arrived was no what they expected it to be--the house was in ruins, and there was no one around. The only clue as to what had happened was--the Dark Mark.

* * *

Luminous green eyes opened again taking in everything they could see. He saw the bed, a huge bed, more of Tom's tastes' bed, and he blushed in remembrance on what had transpired. But it wasn't the memory that made him feel out of place, it was the fact that he  _should've_ been in a dark, cold dungeon cell instead of a bedroom. Well, maybe not a bedroom, but his mindscape. Though it could also be a bedroom?

He shook his head, thinking about this is just confusing him far more than it should be.

Instead, he looked around, memories flashing right before his eyes--quite literally at that. He was a little bit conflicted, because the last time he was here, it'd been dark, very dark, and there was a familiar voice urging him to wake up. Everything was confusing him, and he didn't like it one bit.

"Ah, you're awake," a voice rasped, startling him. A hooded figure, looking not unlike a dementor appeared next to him, taking away his very breath. Is it a dementor? How did a dementor enter his mindscape? Why is there a dementor in the first place? How is it speaking?

The dementor-look-a-like chuckled, the sound raspy, yet warm. He relaxed a little bit.

"How long have I been here?" he asked the hooded figure.

"All your life," it... he answered. He was now confused. All his life, he'd been here this whole time? What about Hogwarts? Magic? His friends? Tom....?

"Not like that, little one," he said in that raspy voice, and he felt as if the words 'little one' was more of an endearing term rather than derogatory. "All this time, you were asleep in here, and now you're awake."

"I've been asleep...? In my own mind...?"

"Ah yes... Unlocking your magic boost had awakened you, and now you're conscious of my... presence in your mind," the hooded figure said.

"What's that got to do with me in here... and you being here? I mean, I remember--Tom taking my, um, my virginity," he blushed, "here, on this bed, but I remember not remembering it, but now that I'm here and awake once more, I remember everything? Will I forget this once I wake up? Who are you by the way? A dementor? How is a dementor in my--"

"One at a time, little one," he rasped, and he shut up.

"Who are you?" Harry asked.

"Ah, the classic," the figure chuckled, and from beneath the hood, Harry could see the glow of a pair of luminous crimson eyes. "But don't you know me, already?"

* * *

Molly Weasley wasn't a stranger to kidnappings. She, as a part of a Prewett family, had faced her share of kidnappings. What she  _was_ a stranger to was when the ones she considered family doing the kidnapping. And also being separated from her children. She couldn't think of anything else--they weren't with her, and she didn't know how they were. Were they alright? No, no, of course they're not. Were they being tortured? It'd be a miracle if they weren't, she snorted in her mind. But how far were the Death Eaters taking it? Enough for her children to end up like the Longbottoms?

She hoped not.

The silence was killing her, and she couldn't do anything about it. Her voice had been silenced by her own  _daughter,_ the daughter that she'd been waiting for, for so long, only to be betrayed by her in more ways than one... She wasn't going to accept her fate so easily, she wouldn't go down without a fight. Maybe a spank or two would go well with punishing her daughter?

Maybe... maybe.

* * *

After the realization, Harry's eyes opened immediately. Disoriented, he sat up and found himself--where he'd expected himself to be, a dungeon cell.

"Oh, Harry," a voice purred. A very, very familiar voice. Harry shuddered and looked towards the source of the voice. As he expected, he found Ginny, her eyes glinting in the darkness and her dirty red hair framing her face in a way that, had she not have the crazed gaze, she'd be cute. What he didn't expect, was that she was nude. Her ample breasts jiggled a little as she happily made her way towards Harry.

Blushing, Harry looked away, not wanting to see her bits. He focused on her face, though her nudity couldn't escape his attentions for long, as she purposefully jiggled her ample bosom and swayed her hips in a seductive manner. Maybe he could use a few seduction moves on Tom to get laid? He could already imagine his red, red eyes dilating at the sight of him, at least trying to seduce him--

No, no, focus on the present.

Which was bad.

Since Ginny had straddled his hips and ground her bits onto his--which he realized wasn't hidden behind clothes, nor a blanket, for all the world to see. But the stimulation he was getting was making his stomach roll, and he tried to move away.

He couldn't.

"It's futile to do anything, Harry," Ginny purred, her hands--soft, a girl's hand is soft, and it was a different feeling from Tom's rough hand on his bits--exploring his naked chest, caressing his torso almost gently. He hated it. He didn't want her to touch him like that, he only wanted Tom to do it. He only needed Tom to touch him, and he hated the fact that she was contaminating Tom's touches from the previous night with her hands.

Power coiled in his stomach, and the rage he felt towards Ginny's touches fueled the pressure going outwards. With a thought, he pushed her off of him, and the chains holding him down disintegrated immediately.

"You dare  _touch_ me?" he asked quietly, though his tone was anything but gentle. It was  _dangerous, dark, and powerful._ With another thought, he sent her out of the dungeon cell, breaking the bars as she went. He didn't care to reign in his uncontrollable magic, he didn't care that it was destroying chunks of cell bars and walls. He wanted  _retribution._

He knew that Voldemort is a part of Tom, and if he didn't feel sick for pawning him off to Ginny,  _he'd_ make him feel sorry for himself.

He'd make sure of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa. A relatively short chapter, I think. I know, I told someone in the comments that I'd have this chapter ready by... yesterday evening at the latest, but stuff happened (my sister dragged me out to a party and I hated it... Well, not the food, but the amount of people in said party) and I fell asleep by the time I got back so... I'm sorry?
> 
> I'm still trying to make things make sense, and even in this chapter I don't think I made sense... To me, at least.
> 
> Alright, now Harry finds the Horcrux within himself, and tbh I've been planning on this scene for quite a while, but the opportunity finally came up. I did hint on the Horcrux talking to him a few chapters back, so I guess you saw it coming... But anywho.
> 
> Thank you for reading, and let's just hope that the next chapter wouldn't take too long. Bye~
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	51. Repercussions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;_; Your comments are making me feel so happy, thank you! And I can't believe that I've got so many kudos and hits and bookmarks too! Here's a cookie for all of you! (Vanilla cookies with chocolate chips on top!)
> 
> I swear I keep getting hungry far too soon, and when I eat, I eat a LOT. Maybe it's my fast metabolism, or the fact that I eat snacks all the time, but I honestly hope that I don't wring out my allowances too much. I still need to survive for a few more months... /o\ But who cares about my monetary status, right?
> 
> Enjoy the next chapter~

Harry was  _livid._

How dare she touched him like that? How  _dare_ she even  _thought_ that she was worthy enough to touch him like that?!

Maybe his thoughts were influenced by Tom's way of thinking, because he certainly didn't remember ever using the word 'worthy of' something, as he'd felt all his life, that he wasn't worth anything. But now, more than ever, felt like it was the right word to use to describe how he felt.

_How dare she felt worthy of him, of even looking at him!_

His magic flared out, and he vaguely noticed a few people pointing their fingers at him--no, their wands. But wands, fingers, who cares what they used to point at him? They were  _pointing_ at him, and for what? For escaping his jail cell? They were pointing fingers--wands--at him for escaping his  _prison?!_ He snorted.

"Out of the way," he commanded, and his magic complied. They all, by raw magic alone, were pinned to the walls, unable to do anything. His eyes immediately sought the person whom angered him.  _"Voldemort,"_ he hissed, his words bordering on Parseltongue. "Pray tell, why would you lock me in a jail cell?"

His words were sweet, but he saw the Dark Lord shudder at his tone.

"Pray tell, why did you let a  _whore_ touch you? Why did you let another  _whore_ touch  _me?"_ he asked in a sweet voice.

"Potter, I--"

"Silence."

That one command silenced him immediately. The only thing that was saving him from  _his_ ire was the fact that despite Bellatrix Lestrange's efforts to make him erect with her--foul, disgusting, useless but for spouting off nonsense--mouth, he was still soft.

"You think you'd get away with just sitting prettily on your throne-y chair and commanding your followers to follow you, is that it?" he asked again as he advanced. Voldemort visibly shuddered, his pupils dilating for some reason--fear? Lust? No matter.

"Oh,  _Voldemort,_ " Harry chuckled. "Not that easily will you escape your...  _punishment,_ " he licked his lips, his eyes glinting in the suddenly darker room.

"You  _dare--_ "

With a wave of his hand, she was immediately silenced. Her mouth flapped open and closed uselessly, only weird, breathy noises came out. He'd wandlessly, and non-verbally vanished her voice cord, so it was to be expected. Blood trickled down her chin, and Harry deemed her sufficiently punished... for now.

"Now how should I go about punishing you?"

The grin he sported didn't bode well for a very pale Voldemort.

* * *

Arthur had always thought that Thomas Marvolo was an odd person. Odd, but nice. Not just that, he had a brilliant mind, a calm demeanor, a cunning way of thinking, and--basically the personification of the perfect, gentlemanly Slytherin.

Of course, he knew that the name Marvolo was another name for the Gaunt family, which were the direct descendants of Salazar Slytherin himself, and he supposed that that's where he got it. He'd heard from his children when they told him that he also taught them a few years back, and while at first he was worried, when they told him how brilliant he was, he thought that he'd be an okay person.

He was vicious, in terms of politics, and he had a stubbornness that rivalled even Harry's. All the Bills he'd put forward were thoughtful, insightful, and he knew that all the things he offered were beneficial, even if it's going against the current society's mindset. Building a magical orphanage was the first Bill he passed. He convinced everyone quite easily, and the only people opposing it were money-hungry people, and even then, they shut up after his childhood story.

Of course, no one knew exactly how muggles treat their children, and even _Arthur Weasley_ was repulsed. No magical being would  _ever_ treat their offspring like that, and he sympathized easily. Many did. Everyone agreed to passing said Bill, and he was one of the people in charge of maintaining it--he'd volunteered, of course. And he'd seen, with his own eyes, how many children, muggleborn and muggle-raised, were abused just because of their magical abilities.

He didn't like it one bit.

The only salvation was, that even with the enormous number of abused children entering the orphanage, many more families who couldn't bear heirs, or those who just wanted a child to take care of. What hindered this in a whole was the blood magick-based ritual that was needed to make the adoption  _more..._ He didn't know the word to describe it aptly, but it needed a blood ritual for families that needed heirs to adopt a child and make them an heir. It include giving them the Olde Familia Magi and it'd make it irrefutable that they'd become a legitimate heir of one family.

It took a considerably more time for the Bill to pass, but it passed eventually. The Bill to make Blood Magick legal. Though the usual laws still affect it--do not cast it with the intention to inflict pain on someone and/or a group of people, etc.

It was... quite impressive, and that wasn't the only thing he did. The legalization of many magic branches, some that was banned by the Ministry as they'd deemed them too  _Dark_ for people, rituals that was long-forgotten, but had proof that it was needed--something like the religious rites for magical beings--and now, giving more leeway for Dark Creatures so that they could have a better life.

He'd been trying to push that one through, for the sake of one Remus Lupin, but Marvolo had gone through, and beyond, of what he'd wanted. He wanted  _all_ Dark Creatures to have their restrictions loosened, and it had gone through.  _It had gone through._

It was the best day of his life, and when he saw people, with amber eyes and tired faces--a few noticeable signs of a werewolf, especially when near the full moon--and a few other people who had the characteristics of one Dark Creature or another, had come in droves into the ministry, to see if the law had actually changed and the happy an hopeful faces on them... It struck something deep inside of him, and he realized that  _by doing this, he was helping them._

Not all Dark Creatures were evil, as he'd previously believed, and seeing these joyful people had made him look up to Marvolo even more.

He was, deep in his heart, kind.

But now, though... He felt as if he was in a Dragon's Keep, and the slumbering dragon had just awoken.

Gone was the calm, cool and composed persona Marvolo painted in the office. Gone was the kind, soft eyes with a fierce fire burning within them. Gone was the aloof way his lips tilted, just so, that made him look more approachable.

Now, he was a ferocious dragon.

And he meant it literally.

Scales that he'd never noticed before, wavered into existence, and his eyes became a deep hue of red, with yellow specks in them. His lips were pulled thin into a snarl, and he was quite surprised to see that he had razor-sharp teeth that seemed to be able to tear anything to pieces.

Arthur realized that it must've been in his blood, a serpentine-naga blood mixed into his wizard's blood, that could've given him an appearance such as that. It used to be more common, hereditary Creature Magi that would appear in children, a time when the High Elves still existed in the same plane they were all in. He didn't expect the Slytherin bloodline to also have such traits.

But apparently they did.

And apparently, an enraged descendant of Slytherin's was far more dangerous than an enraged dragon.

Because, just as Aurors came to the scene, as he'd contacted them a few minutes before, Marvolo roared like a beast, and popped out of existence.

He hoped that the poor fellow that had got him into that state got what they deserved, but he sure as hell wouldn't mind giving them a piece of  _his_ mind himself.

* * *

Guided by a little bit of magic, Tom found his way to Harry.

It was tricky, as he had to literally hack through a ton of wards just to get there, but it was worth it in the end.

Harry's magic was haywire when he got there, and he could practically  _feel_ his anger, even before he entered the manor--the Malfoy Manor. Not that he would acknowledge it for now, but he knew exactly where he was. The Malfoy crest and their family motto was everywhere.

He entered a room, which he vaguely remembered was the one he used most often to hold Death Eater meetings, and found the most breathtaking sight he'd ever seen.

Not, it wasn't the fact that every single one of his followers were pinned to the walls by raw magic alone, nor was it the fact that his counterpart, Voldemort, was on his knees, kneeling before his Harry. No, it was the sight of his Harry, his vibrant green eyes, glowing with power, a furious fire burning within them. His hair flew everywhere due to the power of his magic, and--not just that, of course--the fact that he was naked.

_Naked in front of those who aren't worthy to see him like that!_

Tom's inner creature growled, and it translated to him jumping at his Harry and wrapping him with himself.

 _"Mine,"_ he growled right into his ear. He felt Harry lean back into his hold, and he began kissing every inch of skin that he could, all the while glaring at those who  _dared_ to even glance at his mate.

"Tom," Harry said sweetly, making him growl in satisfaction. Only his Harry could make such a normal name, to be so sweet and  _not so normal._ "Do you think that you could take away Voldie's magic?"

He could hear someone sputtering at the blatant use of Voldemort's name--a mockery of one at that--right in front of him, but he didn't care.

"Of course, love," Tom rumbled, and Harry grinned.

"Then do it," he demanded, and Tom shuddered at the thought of  _his Harry_ taking control of things. It was more than arousing, and it took every bit of his will to not claim his mate right there and then. None of these low-lives are worthy enough to see his  _mate_ in the throes of passion. None but him.

"With pleasure," Tom acquiesced after a moment.

He'd never done this before--taking away another's magic--but it ought to be simple, right? Right.

Tom went to work, and soon enough, he had Voldemort's magic repressed, and he cried out at the loss. He began babbling incoherently, panicking, because as a wizard who'd had magic his whole life, suddenly losing it would drive them insane. Harry cackled at the sight of his counterpart suffering, and he briefly wondered what he did to deserve sweet Harry's wrath.

"Tom?" Harry asked once more, this time not cackling, but smiling contentedly. "I wanna go home, please?"

"As you wish," he pecked the younger wizard on the lips, and prepared to Apparate. Since he'd torn down each and every layer of the wards, it'd actually be possible to do so.

He gathered his Harry up in his arms and watched as Harry took the now-crying Voldemort with him. A nod from him was all the signal he needed, and they disappeared from the Malfoy Manor mere seconds before the Auror force arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This felt a bit rushed, though I guess it actually _was_... err, sort of. I mean, my internet this morning (around 3 AM lol) was flickering between connected and disconnected and I was like, 'No no no you are not dying on me not yet I still need to post this aaaaaaa it's done I know it's done--' and as per usual, I'd save it first before actually posting it.
> 
> Then AO3 decided to go down, and I was like, =.= wut. Now, here I am, 14 hours later, after club activities and classes and such ended lol. XD
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	52. Coming Back Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa. It's almost been 1 year since I first started this fanfic, literally. (Judging by the 'published' date thing in AO3 at least...) And to be honest? Writing this has been a huge blast. I even marked it on my calendar lol, it's my first time getting an anniversary on anything. XD
> 
> Thank you all for your support, for your kudos and comments too. You wouldn't believe how many times I actually, truthfully, wanted to abandon this story for a plot bunny. Almost did, too. But now that there'd be only 1 chapter left after this (or two), followed by the epilogue (prologue???) XD I also can't believe that this is ending... ;_; But this has to end sometime, right?
> 
> Lemme go eat a chocolate to cure my sadness, and let's get on with the chapter. ;_;

Molly Weasley was being treated with far less healing spells compared to her children. Their children. Arthur noticed this. But what made the healers demand that she stay in St. Mungos until they deem her 'stable enough' is the fact that she couldn't get the sight of her children out of her head. Even Arthur wanted to just break down and weep at the sight of them.

Ron wasn't too bad off, since he was shielded by his older brothers. The Twins took most of his punishments, and for that, both Molly and Arthur were grateful. But that didn't mean that they got out unscathed.

Fred lost his eye, and a finger from the cruelty of the Death Eaters. Ron had told them, his eyes glazed and his face pale as he did so, that he and George were forced to watch as one of the Death Eaters slowly and systematically took out parts of his eye with a muggle scalpel, without using anything to numb the pain. Fred's screams still haunted him, and he had nightmares because of it.

Not just him, but George had lost his hearing almost completely. How he lost it was too horrific for anyone to stomach--who'd have thought that just by shoving one's wand into one's ear could create such a damage? Apparently, Hermione knew of the how's and why's, but it didn't make it less horrific.

Ron had got his legs broken with a bone-breaking curse, and he'd have to live the rest of his life with a limp. Other than that, the multiple exposures to the Cruciatus curse they got had almost driven them insane, so they had to see a mind healer until, as they said, 'the voices in their minds stopped screaming at them'.

And yet, no one had found Harry Potter yet.

No one had seen him since Thomas appeared to take him away with Voldemort.

Molly was worried--he'd become her child in everything but blood, and he was missing. As she walked past the ex-daughter, who was screaming at everyone and everything, she wondered where they could be. Ginny's screams were silenced when she was spelled to pass out, and it gave Molly reprieve. She hoped that this time, she'd be given the Kiss immediately--or thrown into the veil.

She didn't want to see her anymore.

Everything was her fault, it started out from her obsession with Harry.

And she'd ruined everything.

Molly stepped into her ex-daughter's room and looked down at the child, whose eyes were surprisingly open, albeit half-mast. She was actually awake.

Better awake then unconscious...

"I, Molly Weasley nee Prewett," she started, a gleam in her eye. She'd seen how this would be more than enough punishment for her, as she'd done far worse to those she considered family. She might've had some doubt before, deep in her heart, somewhere in her mind, that maybe Ginny was still salvageable? Maybe even a little? But no, she'd proven herself incorrigible, and so this was her punishment.

"... With Mother Magick as witness, and binder, and punisher, and forgiver..."

This would hurt, she knew. She'd seen disgraced purebloods go through this and still live, though in immense pain. Usually due to the loss of wealth, but this wouldn't be the case, now would it? They'd always lived in poverty, no loss of wealth could punish her. Maybe it was something more that punished them?

"... Declare that one Ginevra Molly Weasley, is a Weasley no more..."

Ginny's screams started.

Mother Magick approved of her disownment as a Weasley.

"... and shall never become a Prewett..."

Magic built, and exploded right out of her, and it flew down. Down until it reached the Earth. But it was still tethered to her. She needed this to be official, and so she need those last, magic words...

"... So mote it be."

The Earth's magic worked to mend and repair the broken, tainted magic that came from Ginny, and Earth's lands will flourish for a few years more. Earth's magic renewed, and Lady Magick had approved of this magic transfer.

Ginny was a witch no more.

* * *

Tom held Harry tightly to him, landing on a green, green field, dotted with small flowers. The air was cool, and his nearly-nude form shivered due to the cold. A house stood in the distance, and with Tom holding his hand, he was immediately keyed into the wards. Harry looked towards Tom.

"Where are we?" he asked, ignoring the hysterical cries of Voldemort beside him.

"Home," Tom said simply. It could've been a romantic scene, Harry thought amusedly, except that he didn't exactly understand what he meant. He'd only ever had a home with Tom--in Hogwarts, in his rooms, in Sirius' place, the Black Manor, but...

"Home?"

Tom looked into Harry's green, green eyes, and smiled.

"Yes, home."

As if that explained everything. Maybe it did.

"Explain to me why you thought getting a house of your own without telling me," Harry looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Tom blinked.

"It's not my house," he explained. "It's ours. I intended to gift it to you for our... ehm, wedding."

Harry was actually surprised to see red gracing Tom's cheeks. Tom almost never blushed.  _Never._ So this was a very rare sight. Harry gave him a beaming smile.

"Thank you!" he gushed and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, giving him a passionate kiss. Tom smiled into the kiss. Harry pulled away first, his breaths short and fast, his lips red and slightly swollen, his cheeks red. But the huge smile he sported just showed exactly how happy he was. Tom smirked at the sight and kissed him lightly.

"You're welcome," he grinned. "Now, shall we take care of him?" They turned towards a now-quiet Voldemort, who was rocking back and forth, muttering something about being worthless and him having no more magic. He looked like the world was ending, and that everything was crashing down around him. Maybe it was. Harry felt a little bit guilty about doing this to him, making Tom take awake his magic. He understood the feeling--if he ever lost his magic, he'd also be as catatonic as he was.

Harry sighed.

"Tom, how do you absorb you Horcrux?" he asked, looking towards the other man.

"Well, usually I'd have to feel remorse to lure them back to me..." he trailed off. "But usually, I just converse with them and get their consent to merge back with me."

"Huh..." Harry said, shivering as the wind picked up slightly.

"Come inside, it's getting colder out here," Tom suggested, putting his arm around the smaller wizard's shoulder.

"Yeah, good idea," Harry smiled at him, and they both looked at Voldemort. He seemed to be too out of it to notice that they wanted to go inside. Harry sighed. "Let's get him inside too," he suggested, guilt stabbing at his heart. Tom looked at him and seemed to know why he was even suggesting that, so he nodded. They both carried a panicked Voldemort to their new house.

Home.

The thought made Harry feel giddy, and once the front door closed, he immediately kissed Tom passionately. Tom was all too happy to reciprocate, so he did just that.

* * *

Sirius awoke to the sound of whispers.

He could tell that the people whispering were arguing about something, and he couldn't sense anyone else around. He didn't know where he was, all he remembered last was a dark, dank place, and a tray of food. It reminded him too much of Azkaban, but Azkaban didn't serve mashed potatoes and a slice of bread. No, they served soup, which would only fill less than half of the bowl it'd be served in.

So no, he wasn't in Azkaban.

What else, then?

Oh right, Voldemort kidnapped him.

His eyes popped open as realization hit him.

Voldemort attacked the Burrow and kidnapped everyone there--including Harry!

He struggled to sit up, but he couldn't even muster the strength to. It was as if he'd no more bones in his body, and all his muscles were rendered weak from... something. He groaned at the feeling--he  _hated_ feeling weak. Unless either Moony or Sev were the ones to nurse him back to health that is.

Silence reigned, and he realized at the sound of his groan, the whispers stopped. He cracked open his eyes once again, and found three pairs of curious eyes looking right at him.

"Dada Siri!" three voices rang excitedly, and Sirius groaned again at the assault of sounds. His three children talked all at once, one scolding him, another expressing their happiness at seeing him finally awake, the other reprimanding him--not quite scolding him--for getting himself kidnapped. As if he had anything to say about that.

A cough in the doorway silenced them, and for that Sirius was grateful.

"Give him some rest, will you? He's injured," a familiar voice said, and he could practically hear the scowl from his voice.

"But Papa Sev!" whined the three children. Severus gave them 'the look', one that Molly used to shut up her children. The look that he couldn't exactly master fully. Grumbling, the three children climbed down the bed he was on and sat in chairs--chairs that he supposed had been put there for them in the first place. Severus sighed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Weak. Like all my bones have disappeared and now my muscles are just being jelly-like," he complained, and Severus snorted.

"Of course, all your bones had been broken and you had been put to a healing sleep. We regrew it with a strong Skele-Gro, but it'll take a while to get used to the new bones in you," he explained. Sirius blinked and nodded.

"Well, good thing I was asleep you know? Feeling Skele-Gro regrow your bones feels like a--"

"Don't," Severus hissed, eyes stormy. "Say that word. There are children in the vicinity."

"We're not children, Papa!" one of the three said, most probably Spica. She was one of the most rebellious of them all.

"Alright then, from now on, you tie your shoes by yourself," Severus told her, grinning. He knew that Spica was the only one who couldn't exactly tie her shoes like her siblings--she was far too impatient to learn how to. "I'll  _always_ buy you shoes with shoelaces, and maybe even boots with a few of those."

"No!" Spica yelled paling. "No, please Papa! Anything but that!"

"But you're not a child anymore, are you?" Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Nuh-uh! I'm not a child..." she said tentatively, unsure.

"Then you should be able to tie your shoes like I could," he smirked. Sirius just rolled his eyes, knowing that Severus' boots, while having shoelaces, also had buttons, in case he lost the shoelaces. But no one knows that. Besides, if you go along with that kind of logic, then Spica's sibling would both not be children anymore.

"What're you grinning at?" Severus snapped at Sirius, and the injured man just laughed.

"Daddy! You won't let Papa buy me shoes with shoeties, right?" she asked, pleading him with her heterochromia eyes.

"I'm afraid I can't do that--your Papa will buy them anyways," Sirius chuckled.

"No!" she wailed. "I'm sorry Papa, I'm still a child, so please don't buy me shoes with shoeties!"

"Apology accepted," Severus grinned.

"Papa, when is Daddy gonna be okay?" Emilia asked.

"Soon, I believe," Severus said, his eyes going over Sirius' prone body.

"When's soon?" she asked again.

"Soon is... soon," he told her. "It depends on how fast his recovery goes. If it's really fast, then maybe he'd be better by next week. If not... then maybe within a month."

"Tha's no' s'oon! Tha's  _ages_ from no'," Magnus said, his words a little off due to him losing a few teeth a few weeks ago.

"He's right," Sirius grumbled. "It'll be  _ages_ from now."

"Oh, stop your pouting," Severus sneered, and Sirius pouted at him even more. Severus sighed. "We'll be visiting you so much that you won't even feel the time go by, won't we?"

"Yeah!" the three children shouted, grinning at each other. "We're gunna help you heal lots!" Sirius grinned at them all.

"Thank you, I'm feeling better already."

That seemed to make the children even happier, as they beamed at each other and began to speak with each other excitedly. He could hear one of them--Spica maybe--tell them about bringing Sirius a few of the Weasley Twins' items, which were banned from the hospital for various reasons, he was sure. Sirius gave Severus a beaming smile, and he rolled his eyes, though he was also smiling the twitch-of-the-lips smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how long that was, but it seems like it's a bit longer than usual. Maybe it's the conversations, I don't know. XD What did you think of this chapter? I admit some things are alluding my mind, avoiding my conscious thoughts like a plague. I think it is a plague, but who knows?
> 
> Anyways, I just finished making the first set of characters for my group's final project, and it only had... 7 characters. Out of the... umm... *let me count* 15 characters that I need to make. Wow. And that's just the character asset, not yet the sprite asset and the 'marketPlace' and 'dungeons' assets.
> 
> I'll get to making the last 8 characters tonight, I think. It'll take a while... Huww.
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	53. Merging Ritual

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My mom came and we had a talk, and we had a good cry over it. It was a great way to bond between mother and daughter... /w\ I swear, all my pent up stress over missing my mom (since I technically left home before my time, or so he said, which gave me a subconscious stress or something) is gone and I feel lighter somehow. Or maybe that's because my mom asked me if I had a boyfriend yet and I said that I'm not interested in anyone. Huh.
> 
> I'm seriously questioning myself over here. 18 years and still no boyfriend. Wow. Too much info, so... On to the next chapter I guess...

Tom looked at Voldemort, rocking back and forth inside the room he and Harry had prepared for him. He was in such a pathetic state, he couldn't look at him anymore. It was just--disgusting. So weak, begging for his magic to come back to him. But he also realized that this was  _him._ The version of him that he'd become had he not met Harry. Had he not helped him that fateful night.

Well, he wasn't ashamed to admit that he got quite the enjoyment from him. He'd been a virgin, both in body and mind, and he wouldn't change that for the world.

Besides, his innocence had helped him regain a body, his craving for love helped him in ways he didn't expect he would ever be helped. At first, he was glad that Harry was quite the gullible little child, and he was easy to manipulate to his whims. But the longer he stayed with him, the fonder he grew of his boy. Him growing to love his ex-nemesis was quite the surprise for him.

Him growing to love  _anyone_ was quite the surprise for him, actually.

He and Dumbledore had believed that since his mother used Amortentia to woo his father, and grown up without knowing love had taken away the chance of him to ever get to know what love was.

And yet, years later, a 12-year-old boy had taught him what no one ever would. And he didn't even know about it--he'd done it for selfless reasons, and he loved him all the more for it.

And yet this abominable excuse for a monster had tried to kill him, use him, break him. Granted it was  _he_ who'd tried to kill him first, when he was a baby, and back when he was just a wraith living at the back of Quirell's skull. But this pathetic excuse of a monster had used him for his resurrection without thinking about the consequences of his actions, and it was just  _unforgiveable._

And because of that, Tom let him despair over the loss of his magic. Let him feel the weakness he'd hated so much, a punishment given to him by his lovely Harry. Oh yes, it was a cruel punishment, he knew. But he deserved it.

And yet, sweet, forgiving Harry had told him to end it before a whole day had passed, and he knew that the longer Voldemort was in this state, the more guilt Harry would feel, so he had to oblige. After Harry fell asleep, as soundly as he could make him at least, he'd tucked him in an quickly made his way to Voldemort's room. He relished in the hysteric gasps and moans and wails the other man produced, before even  _that_ got annoying.

Sighing, he decided that he'd just get this over with and stood in front of Voldemort.

"Please, please, please," he heard him mutter under his breath, and Tom cupped his jaw, making him look up towards him.

"Do you want your magic back?" he asked, quietly. Voldemort made an odd noise in his throat and wailed a little. Then he stopped, his glazed eyes looking just that little bit less glazed.

"Wh-what's the catch?" he rasped, the first few words he uttered other than pleas to give him back his magic. Well, Tom shouldn't be surprised, he  _was_ him, and he'd always looked at the possible motives other people would have behind the things they did. It's just a part of him that's so ingrained that when he'd known  _all_ of Harry's thoughts while residing in his mind, he had been surprised that Harry would have no motives behind most of his actions.

"Merge with me."

"What's the point of making Horcruxes when in the end, you'd merge back with all of it?" Voldemort cackled. Tom raised an eyebrow.

"What? So you merged with all the other pieces?" he asked.

"Merged with the Cup a few days ago," he rasped. Tom just shook his head.

"Such a hypocrite," he stated. Voldemort just glared at his counterpart, although said glare was weak with desperation bleeding back into his eyes. Tom raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow and asked once again, "So, will you merge with me?"

"Even with the ring merged with me, I still wouldn't be stronger than you, would I?" he asked rhetorically.

"It's a simple yes or no question," Tom sighed, getting tired of Voldemort's ramblings.

The two stared at each other intensely for a long, long while, before Voldemort finally nodded.

"Alright."

Tom grinned.

* * *

Harry woke up, startled by the sudden, heavy influx of magic. Magic that caressed his in a decidedly loving manner, making him arch his back in sudden pleasure. Waves after waves of it crashed onto him, and he couldn't do anything else but whimper.

Sweat started to bead on his forehead, making its' way down his temples as he panted.

It was glorious--far more glorious than an orgasm.

Well, actually it was as good. Maybe just a teensy tiny bit more glorious. But never mind which is better, when the strongest wave of magic crashed onto him, he eyes widened, and all he saw was white--before he landed back onto the bed, exhausted and satisfied, coming without any other stimulation other than Tom's magic caressing him. He was both embarrassed and awed by the fact.

Was he now so sensitive to Tom's presence that he could reach completion just by his magic?

It was an interesting thought to follow.

* * *

There was something odd, a niggling feeling in the back of his mind, after merging with Voldemort. Tom rose and stretched, trying to find out what was bothering him too much. He still felt... incomplete, and he knew that merging with Voldemort would make him complete, soul-wise. He didn't have any more Horcruxes, and yet... He felt as if there was something missing, something deep inside of him calling out for a piece of him.

It felt like when he'd first created his diary.

Which was weird. He closed his eyes and tried to remember--did he have anymore Horcruxes to absorb? Why did he still feel so... incomplete? He growled to himself, why was it that he couldn't find anything?!

He sat on the floor and began meditating, trying to find the missing piece of him. He found himself in his mindscape, a lush garden he'd planned on making for Harry before presenting the house to him. He'd planned it since he gave him the promise bracelet, after all. He looked around the place, finding it much brighter than before. Why was that, though?

Was it because he'd merged with all of his Horcruxes?

No, he hadn't. He was still missing a piece of him, so why--

A satisfied groan pulled him out of his own thoughts, and he looked around the mindscape. A figure laid across his lap, lazing around like a cat. The black hair and verdant green eyes, looking at him with half-mast lids told him who it was.

"Harry...?" he asked him.

Harry just grinned at him--no, smiled at him. It was a lopsided smile, a smile of satisfaction, and Tom's posture relaxed just a little bit.

"Hey Tom," he purred, stretching over his lap. He shifted around until he found a comfortable position and curled up, looking like he had no worry in the world. Tom chuckled and started threading his fingers through his hair, loving the soft feel of it. "Where are we?"

"My mindscape," he replied, then blinked. How did Harry get there?

"Wow, it's so much different than mine, so open and bright," the teen in his lap mused, oblivious to the astonishment on Tom's face.

"It appears to be so," Tom said noncommittally.

They enjoyed a moment of silence, in which Tom threaded his fingers through Harry's hair, and Harry dozing in his lap. How was it that he was there, though? Was it because he'd formed a soul-bond through Harry's mindscape the first time? Or was it something else?

He shook his head. He knew one thing for sure, though, when Harry came, he felt complete. Surely, that means--

* * *

 

The next morning found Tom in the kitchen, cooking. The smell of the food that he was making was simply heavenly, and Harry had literally followed his nose to get to the kitchen, as he still hadn't gotten the layout of the house down yet.

"Good morning, Harry," Tom said with a smile. "Have a good rest?"

"Morning Tom," Harry yawned. "I did. What's cooking?"

"Toast with eggs on top," he informed him.

"Smells far too good to be just that," Harry smiled at him.

"Well, I added chopped garlic and a bit of butter to the toast..." he trailed off.

"That sounds so good," Harry moaned, making Tom smirk.

"Getting turned on over my cooking?"

"Um," Harry blushed, ducking his head with a sheepish smile. "Maybe?"

"Brat," Tom chuckled, turning around to hug Harry. "I love you."

Harry's heart skipped a beat at his admission. Did something happen? Did merging with Voldemort made him feel... more than usual? Whatever it was, Harry was happy for it. With a smile, he kissed Tom's nose and reciprocated his words. "I love you too."

Tom turned back to his cooking with a smile playing at his lips. Knowing what Harry was now had made him love Harry all the more. Who knew that all this time, he'd already given a piece of him, a piece of his soul, to his soulmate? He didn't.

With a flourish, he served breakfast, making Harry giggle. He knew then and there, that he'd made the right choice in bonding his soul to Harry's in a soul-bond. He couldn't have chosen better, if he had the chance. For now, the world consisted of only the two of them, and the two of them created the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YESH they've finally merged D: I'm both unhappy and happy about it. On one hand, I like the thought of, well, 'taming' Voldie, but on the other, he's just this little bit too evil (read: stubborn) and so he will never want to stop trying to kill Harry. I was actually planning on getting some threesome action between Harry and 2 Toms (huehuehuehuheue) sometime when I was writing this last year ;v; But I don't think it's gonna work, even with an extremely submissive-pet-ish Voldie. So no.
> 
> Also, I'm happy to announce that I'm open for commissions in DeviantArt! Please visit me in scaranpannoir.deviantart.com and if you like my drawings, please consider requesting a commission! I planned to do this in July--originally anyway--but things came up and I decided to just screw it and went through with it.
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	54. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very, very sorry for the late update!!! I swear I can't focus for more than a few hours at a time, and due to RL (read: college assignments and the freaking _longest_ semester EVER), I've only found some time before midterms begin. I mean, seriously, this long and it's only midterms??? Urgh. I'm THIS close to setting myself up for a temporary hiatus, or AWOL to be exact, due to college alone.
> 
> Thankfully, it's not as stressful as I make it sound, I'm just having a difficult time adapting to my college life.
> 
> Enough of my ramblings though, and let's get this show on the road!

It's been a few months since the announcement about Voldemort's 'death', and Tom found it funny that people were  _still_ celebrating his demise, even to this day. He shook his head, turning around to look at his mate, his lover.

Harry had fallen asleep, reading a particularly fascinating Defense book Tom had gifted him a while ago. He'd given him a beaming smile over the Christmas gift, and was rewarded with a baby basilisk.

A hatchling basilisk, for a Christmas present. Only Harry could know him so well.

He was estatic to have such a young hatchling in his hands--it soothed his creature side as it saw the hatchling as their offspring. It was both amusing and deeply disturbing, though he didn't let it disturb him too much. He'd asked Harry where he'd gotten a basilisk, but he just smiled and kept quiet. He had a suspicion that Jamila helped, though. Said basilisk hatchling curled around his neck, absorbing the warmth of a living body.

He was a bit miffed, though, when Sirius found out that he'd broken the Black Chastity Curse somehow and had only let him marry Harry once he was out of school. Didn't mean that he couldn't stay at Tom's though. He had a feeling that Remus had something to do with it, but decided not to test his luck.

The Weasley's were still coping with the aftermath, often times jumping at the slightest sounds. He couldn't figure out whether it was a bad thing or not, since that made the Weasley Twins even  _more_ mischievous and even  _more_ discreet--all of their pranks ever since hadn't pointed to them at all, even though most of everyone knew that they were the culprits.

He turned back, looking out the window, watching as the sun slowly made its' way towards the horizon. Everything in his life had worked out eventually, and Tom was pleased by the turn of events. True, he did feel a margin of guilt over the deaths he'd caused, even though it wasn't truly  _him_ who'd done that. It was Voldemort, and not Tom. But he still felt guilty for it.

Thankfully, most of his bills had been pushed through rather quickly, what with the wizarding world celebrating and agreeing to literally  _everything_ Harry said.

He heard Harry snuffle in his sleep, and he felt his heart melt at how  _adorable_ (not that he'd admit to calling him that--he'd get the couch for years for it) his fiancé was. Not just his fiancé, though, not just his mate, but his horcrux too. Who would've thought that his Harry would have a part of his soul within him? Deep inside his heart, he was thankful that the last horcrux he made, accidentally or otherwise, was his mate.

It was odd, to think of a living person as a horcrux, something he'd synonymize with an object before. Now he knew better, he felt as if it was destiny to have Voldemort come for Harry that fateful night--to have a part of him embedded within him--and end up being soulmates with him in the future. Who would've thought?

Tom shook his head--Harry's Gryffindor sentimentalities were rubbing off on him.

With a kiss to Harry's forehead, he left to make supper.

* * *

Sixth year came and went. It was one of the most laid-back years Harry had ever experienced in all his time in Hogwarts. Maybe it was because of Hermione's nagging about studying early into the school year, and doing their homework the day it was given. It gave both Ron and Harry more relaxation time, and since the war has ended--officially, as there were a few runaway Death Eaters running amok--Harry felt as if it was truly the time he felt like a teenager.

Everyone was recuperating, coming to terms that there is no war to fight, mourning for the lost ones, healing wounds that could only be healed by tears and time, and recovering from the many damages wars brought upon people. Tom pushed more laws, and took down those that proved to be holding the evolution of the wizarding world.

Apparently, Arthur Weasley had stepped forward as a Minister and helped Tom with his mission in reaching for the betterment of the Wizarding World. The Weasley Twins reopened the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes bigger and better than before, despite their own battle scars. Molly had taken a bit of time to accept that she didn't have a daughter anymore, and eventually snapped out of her depression after Bill and Fleur told her of their engagement.

The world was changing, and there were even more magical children found in the muggle world, Tom said, and those who were older than 11 were assigned tutors to ease their entrance into the changing, magical world, and those who were younger were placed or adopted by families who couldn't have children, as the orphanage wasn't ready yet.

Remus and Sirius were in charge of said orphanage, as Severus wasn't exactly fond of children. Trivial things also happened, like Ron finally realising his feelings for Hermione was far deeper than he thought, and it had come as a surprise for the three of them that he proposed to Hermione after a few months of dating (which surprised Harry as he didn't really notice them dating at all) to which Hermione said yes...

It was the best. That said, though...

Seventh year was the worst.

Harry groaned when he saw Hermione bring more reference books to their table in the library. "No more, 'Mione," he whined. He swore that he'd never studied so much in his life, and his head hurt from the influx of knowledge they were cramming within a short amount of time. Hermione just huffed at his words and gave him a stern glare.

"Well, if you weren't so busy looking after your god-children, then you wouldn't have to do this at all!"

"Blimey, 'Mione," Ron groaned with Harry, although for different reasons. "Give the dude some break, will ya?"

Hermione just glared at him, who was reading up on the History about Magical Creatures--which was one of the most asked subjects in NEWTs.

"And why aren't you reading up on Transfiguration?" she narrowed her eyes at her fiancé, and Ron shrugged as if he didn't really care--though if you looked closely, he did gulp nervously at her words.

"Last minute studies?" a voice asked, and Harry perked up at it.

"Tom!" he said happily, though not making any move to hug him as his legs were asleep from sitting for far too long.

"Professor Marvolo!" both Hermione and Ron said happily.

"Marvolo, if you would. I'm not your professor anymore," he told them, though his eyes stayed on Harry's.

"What're you doing here?" Harry asked him, accepting the hug he gave him readily.

"Hm, just missing my fiancé," he said, and both Hermione and Ron gaped at them.

"You both are engaged?" Ron asked, surprise evident on his face. "Since when?"

"Harry James Potter, why didn't you tell us?" Hermione looked at the two with a little pout. Tom took one look at a confused Harry before sighing.

"It... slipped my mind?" the younger wizard tried, honestly not noticing that he hadn't told them before.

"I mean, I did sort of suspected before but..." Hermione trailed off, looking at Harry in a new light.

"We've been together since second... third year," Tom told them. "But I've proposed to him back in fifth year."

"Years, Harry! And you didn't tell us!" Ron threw his hands up. Tom just chuckled, and Harry blushed.

"Well, to be fair, I didn't exactly know that you two were dating, and you didn't tell me," Harry told them.

"Mate, I thought everyone knew," Ron told him incredulously, to which Hermione gave him a stern 'Ron!' and a punch to his shoulder.

"Well, I must get going," Tom said, straightening up from his hunched up position so that he could give Harry a hug. "Remember to not study too much, or you'll forget the important stuff."

With that, Tom left, his words leaving Hermione in an even more study frenzy than before, making both Harry and Ron groan. Despite it all, though, Harry was thankful for the normal-ness of the whole situation. He'd never acted, nor been treated, like another person his age back when he was under the Dursleys'... 'care', and even when he first entered the Wizarding World, he was suddenly thrust into a war that he didn't know of beforehand.

Now, smiling, laughing, worrying about his studies like his friends did--it was great to not be 'abnormal' in the eyes of the people closest to him.

* * *

Tom smiled at Harry.

"Congratulations on your graduation, Harry," he told him, and Harry gave him a blinding smile for it.

"I love you, Tom," Harry said with happiness colouring every inch of his body, every tone of his voice. He then hugged him and proceeded to kiss him ferociously. Cameras flashed in the background, and whispers and gasps started--there was even a few who applauded for them, but they didn't pay any of them any attention. Though, for the heck of it, Tom decided that letting his glamours drop while deepening their kiss would be... fun.

It was fun indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, the other day, I did something stupid like deleting all info on gmail in my phone, and now it won't synchronize and thus I'm unable to check my mail as frequently as I used to (like, three times a day, when I'm bored, at least.) Which is also why I haven't replied to your comments yet (I'm too lazy to open the inbox from the website :P)
> 
> Next chapter will be the last! :D (Though I think I'm dragging on the story for a bit too much lol)
> 
> \---- To be continued --


	55. Bound To You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prologue! Er... Epilogue! The prologue to a new life, the epilogue to the current story! I actually did reserve the title for the epilogue lol. You know, something that I just really wanted to do. After this, probably gonna do some minor changes, beta-ing the story and such...
> 
> I'm sad to see this end, but if I didn't end this _somewhere_ , then I'd have to write this until I die, which is too tedious for me and I'm such a lazyass person, I'm not gonna do something so... diligent. I try, though. XD Anyways, on to the last chapter!

The bonding between one Harry Potter and one Thomas Marvolo was attended by many, and I mean many, people, both from Britain and outside of it, it was almost like the whole world attended it. While Harry didn't exactly like it, he had to bear with it, as the person who'd 'defeated' the Dark Lord Voldemort. If only they knew whom exactly it is he was being bonded to...

Harry gave the guests a side glance as the doors opened, taking note of the sheer size of the place used to hold so many people. The whole of the ballroom (from one of the Black Family houses) had been spacious before, but even with the extra few enlarging space charms it was still cramped. The place made him gulp in nervousness, feeling like anything and everything could happen on his bonding day.

But despite that, he took his first step forward.

Harry's form-fitting wedding robes, decorated with silver, vine-like decorations, sewn into the fabric, had made everyone's breath catch. Not to mention the dark green colour made his eyes stand out, bright and sparkling. Though, that could be explained by his happiness at finally, officially being bound to Tom. A small part of him was even happier about the fact that he was doing this in front of the world, as if shouting it to everyone that he was Tom's and Tom was his.

What took his breath away though, was Tom, standing in front of the bonder, in his red and green formal robes, bordered with bold, black strips of cloth, tying at his waist that gave off the impression of a 'gift wear' as the shop clerk called it (Tom did look like a gift--for him and him only). Not just that, but a few buttons above his chest was unbuttoned, revealing a tantalizing strip of flesh, shimmering due to the scales there, his eyes a deep crimson, which sparkled under his appreciative look.

It was a good thing that traditionally, magical bonding wouldn't allow any parent from any sides to walk their child, as it would disturb the magical process. Had Sirius been there with him, seeing Tom's lustful gaze on him... He didn't even want to imagine how he'd react.

Another step was taken.

His heart was beating very quickly, and he was somewhat afraid that everyone in the ballroom could hear it. He was quite sure that the moment Tom touches his hand, it'd leap out in joy, exposing how deep his feelings for Tom was.

Another step.

But then again, who'd ever cared who he falls for? Why should he care whether they could see how deep his emotions run or not? That thought certainly took off a load off his shoulder.

The next step had a little bounce in it, and Tom noticed.

It seemed like Harry had just realized something, while taking the painstakingly slow, one step per second tradition. If it were just a small ceremony, he'd have walked together with him through Fiendfyre and along Demonic Waters, traversing through Devil's Bridges and fly together like angels in a clear blue sky.

Harry took another step.

Tom nearly snorted--since when had he become so cheesy?

Another step.

Was it because he'd merged with his diary self? Was it because he was mostly whole? Was it because he fell in love? He, who'd thought love was impossible?

Another step.

No, he knew the answer already. He'd started to change ever since he met Harry. His Harry.

The Harry that had took another step, the final one, to stand in front of Tom. His green, green eyes meeting his vivid red ones.

The bonder started to chant. The guests repeated after him as per tradition, adding each and every one of their magic to strengthen the bond that will be created between them. Once the bonds were formed, they looked at each other with heat in their eyes, and Tom leaned down to kiss him deeply.

That day was glorious, the day he'd announced to the world that Harry Potter is his.

And that Tom Riddle is Harry's.

* * *

3 years later...

"Dammit, Harry, sit down!" Tom growled at his mate, who was stubbornly standing up with his arms crossed across his chest.

"Nu-uh! I'm not gonna sit down until you use the chocolate-smelling lotion!" Harry stuck his tongue out childishly.

"I told you, we ran out of those..." Tom sighed.

"Then go buy some more!" Harry grit his teeth, not wanting to give in to Tom's demands.

"Is this because of last night?" Tom tried--there was no getting his way until Harry gets his, so he's trying another way. Harry just gave him a 'hmph!' and turned away. "Oh, Harry, come on, you know I didn't mean it..."

"You were watching those... those  _women_ again! More than you watched me!" Harry told him.

"Of course I was watching them! They were very hilarious, you know!"

"So what? Watching dramas are far more entertaining than your own husband that you wouldn't feed me your ice cream?! And I specifically asked for strawberry mint with jalapeno sauce too!"

"Oh, Harry no, please sit down," Tom coaxed him. "This stress isn't good for you nor our babies at all..."

"You're using our babies to make me do what you want?!" Harry yelled, suddenly angry. "You... you selfish--I'm gonna go to Sirius' place!"

"Wai--Harry!"

And he was gone. So much for that conciliatory massage. He just hoped that Harry would come back, just a little bit more calm than before. This stress isn't good for anyone--including him. He sighed, sitting onto their fluffy sofa. How was he going to get Harry to listen to him this time...?

* * *

Harry harrumphed as he sat on the comfy sofa in front of the fireplace, not bothering to find Sirius in the mansion. Seriously, who'd make a pregnant man go around a huge mansion to search for one person, who might not even be home at all? Harry pouted at the thought, only now remembering that Sirius took his whole family on a vacation to Asia.

It was mainly to placate Severus, who got pregnant due to his over-active tendencies... no, he did  _not_ need that mental image,  _ugh._

Feeling even more irritated, Harry just laid on the sofa with a frown on his face. Sirius may have given him free reign to the mansion whenever he felt, but he didn't feel exactly at  _home_ in such a huge, empty place. He sighed, still feeling irritated--now he felt lonely. If only Tom didn't drive him away! He contemplated in silence, how did it get to  _here_ exactly?

Oh right. Tom didn't give him the ice cream he wanted.

But still, the silence felt... depressing. He didn't like it at all.

Deciding to just go back to Tom, even if he's angry at him, he could just sleep on the couch tonight! Nodding, he tried to get up, but found that he couldn't. Harry's eyes widened. Now he couldn't go back to Tom even if he wanted to?!

His irritation came back full-force, and he just hugged the sofa cushion, trying to get comfortable. But it wasn't enough, it wasn't warm enough, not comfy enough, not-not Tom-enough.

* * *

When Harry opened his eyes next, it was to Tom carrying him through the Floo, the dizzying trip enough to make him nauseous. He somehow kept the bile down, and glared at the reason why he left the house anyways. Said man just raised an eyebrow and laid him on their comfortable bed. Harry immediately relaxed at the familiar scent and softness of their bed, and closed his eyes in relief.

How does Tom always know what he wanted, whenever he wanted it?

The smell of chocolate wafted to his nose, and Tom's fingers were on his foot. The next thing he knew, he was moaning, boneless on the bed, feeling Tom's fingers travel up his leg, massaging the knots there.

"...am I forgiven?" he asked, adding  _just enough pressure at that spot, oh yes._

Tom smirked at the moan and grunt Harry made as an answer.

"I'm... sorry too," Harry told him quietly. Surprised, Tom looked at him. 'Where did that come from?' was written clearly on his face, and had Harry not been hormone-driven, he would've giggled at his expression. But he was, and tears gathered in his eyes. "Please don't make me leave again..."

Tom's face softened at his words, and he climbed up to kiss Harry on the nose.

"I'll never ever make you leave again," he promised. Harry's eyes were wide, vulnerably looking at him. Tom's not-so-idle hand drifted up from his legs to his abdomen, gently kneading the mound of flesh there, knowing that Harry absolutely loved it when he did that. Harry's eyes fluttered shut, and his lips curved upward.

And just like that, he fell asleep.

Tom's hands didn't stop kneading the tense muscles, even after hours passed since Harry first fell asleep. His eyes were soft, gentle, a look reserved for him only.

A gentle thump on his hand made his eyes drift down to the very round, very big stomach. With a chuckle, Tom leaned down and told the babies, "Please don't make your mother make me sleep on the couch..."

There was another thump against his palm, and he smiled before laying down and hugged Harry to his chest--no, it was not a cuddle,  _definitely_ not.

With the smell of Harry in his nose and his warm weight in his arms, Tom quickly fell asleep, dreaming of bright smiles and sparkling green eyes, along with childish laughter in the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very bad at endings and I'm very sorry for the delay. I rewrote this a few times, and am still not satisfied with it. But this works, I think. I'll get back to this when I have a better idea of an 'ending'.
> 
> Anyways, thank you all so much for sticking with this story for so long, and giving a lot of things to keep in mind the next time I write! I seriously wouldn't have finished this story without your encouragement, so... cookies for everyone! (Can't give out cakes since the ones I make are usually soggy, dunno why :/) ^o^/
> 
> \---- The End --
> 
> Additional stuff:  
> Harry woke up the next morning to find himself snuggling up to Tom's warm body. He could feel his exhaled breaths on his head, making him feel very relaxed. There was a thump from his belly, and he snapped his eyes open--he nearly forgot that he wanted to make him sleep on the couch!
> 
> He'd raised his foot to kick away his somewhat-offending husband, but then there was another thump on his stomach. A particularly harsh kick was delivered to his internal organs, and he groaned in pain, tears springing up in his eyes. Were his babies going to take Tom's side?
> 
> Hearing the groan, Tom slightly woke up and reach for Harry, splaying his hand onto the tense belly, before closing his eyes with his breath evening once more. The touch was comforting, and Harry sighed in comfort.
> 
> Well, if Tom's not being a good, considerate husband to him, then he could at least do this everytime the babies kick him... Appeased, Harry decided to not kick Tom out of bed and kissed his cheek.
> 
> "I love you, Tom."


End file.
